‘MAY THEY REST IN PEACE’
DELCO MARKS SACRED REMEMBRANCE IN MIDST OF PANDEMIC
RADNOR » In an event that would have been attended by hundreds on any other year, 40 or 50 spectators turned out in person for the township’s annual Memorial Day ceremony Monday afternoon. Officials had urged residents to watch the event from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and most complied.
The outbreak did not stop members of the Memorial Day Parade Committee and veterans from American Legion posts 418 and 688 from honoring those who gave their lives in service to the country.
As the names of the 118 township residents whose names are on the Radnor War Memorial was read aloud, a wreath was placed in their honor.
The Memorial Day ceremony Monday in Radnor was to honor the men and women who gave their lives defending the country’s freedoms, rights and liberties, according to the township website.
Radnor’s Memorial Day parade is one of the largest in the area. It normally begins in St. Davids and proceeds west along Lancaster Avenue to the Township War Memorial on West Avenue.
“All these people have given their lives so we have the freedom to gather, the freedom to wake up and not worry, the freedom to be uncomfortable during times like this,” said St. Mary’s Episcopal Church Pastor Rev. Joseph Smith. “There are people who have decided there are things worth dying for. It’s humbling.”
The guest speaker was former Radnor commissioner and Navy veteran Don Curley, who said he was honored to be standing before the monument to those who gave the country freedom.
Curley said from the moment people came together in communities, powerful forces have also been trying to rip the U.S. apart, and for many people throughout human history, life was drudgery.
“Two concepts fundamentally changed human life. One was the recognition of human dignity and the second was liberty,” Curley said. “Empowered by a democracy that promotes dignity and promotes liberty, people came to America from all over the inhabited world.”
He said he views the power of democracy as the greatest discovery of all time and the greatest invention of all time is the United States of America.
Curley recalled President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and President John F. Kennedy’s first inaugural address to say: “Let us most fully honor the members of this community who were killed defending this community by first acknowledging the stunning enormity of their achievement, and second, be wholly dedicating ourselves, our community, our nation and our world to the unfinished work of liberty.”
Robert Filipone, 36-year Air Force reserve veteran, was recognized as the parade grand marshal. Filipone, as superintendent of freight operations for the 436th aerial squadron at Dover Air Force base during Operation Desert Storm, oversaw movement of all war time supplies and troops and the receiving of fallen heroes’ remains for transport to the base mortuary.
“I’m deeply honored and grateful. Today we take time to honor those brave and unselfish men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can have the freedoms we enjoy, our lives as free Americans,” Filipone said. “I proudly wore my uniform for over three decades and I’m proud to stand here today and salute with you our beautiful flag, and to remember our fallen heroes.”