I don’t think we should cancel our annual ceremony but apparently our Mayor does.

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While helping the VFW place American flags at Saint Matthew’s Cemetery in Conshohocken, I overheard a couple of veterans talking. They were discussing the controversy with the County not releasing flags to be placed on the graves of Veterans on Memorial day weekend. Then they mentioned how the VFW would not be holding the annual Memorial Day ceremony in West Conshohocken.

I was shocked by what they said and interrupted their conversation, explaining that I was from West Conshy and wanted to know if I had heard them correctly. They confirmed that Mayor Lynch won’t permit the VFW to hold the annual ceremony on Memorial Day and the Mayor thought that perhaps something could be done by the VFW on the Fourth of July.

We are a week away from Memorial Day and to my knowledge the Borough has made no official notice that the annual ceremony has been canceled. With no communication from the Mayor, I can only speculate that fear of COVID-19 is his public reason for canceling the event. If so, that completely ignores the latest science concerning the virus. It has been know for a while that UV light (sunshine) and warmer temperatures rapidly kill the virus. A number of studies have been published that show that increased vitamin D (sunshine) greatly improves the survival rate of  people who contract the virus. In other words one of the safest places for people to be is outside in the sun.

I’m continually disappointed that Democrats feel the need to be our nanny and assume that average people aren’t able to use their common sense when it comes to safety measures. Being our betters and knowing what is best for us commoners, they cancel the traditional ceremony and don’t even bother to tell us. Having been in quarantine so long we likely don’t know what day it is and won’t even notice there was no Memorial Day this year.

Being a Marine, I’m not about to let the long standing West Conshy tradition of conducting a Memorial Day ceremony be discarded (speak up in the comments if you have any information on how many consecutive years the ceremony has been held). I want to do something to pay respect to our fallen veterans. I no longer own a uniform and I don’t know how to play a bugle, so I can’t hope to do as good a job as our guys from the VFW. Don’t know how I’m going to do it but I do know that I will be at the corner of Front and Ford streets at 10 o’clock (edit: oops apparently 9:30 is the usually time) on Memorial Day doing my best to continue the tradition honoring those that have perished fighting for our country.

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I think that #westconshystrong should include the maintaining of our traditional ceremonies….