Memorial Day in town

Memorial Day is next Monday, May 31st. Most of us know it as the unofficial start to summer, when picnics and vacations and trips to the shore are all planned. But your Center City Correspondent would like you to take a moment and reflect on what Memorial Day really means. There have been hundreds of thousands of men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve, protect, and defend our freedoms. Without their sacrifices, I don’t know if we’d be living in the comfort and relative security that we do in this country.


There are a number of memorials in Center City which makes it easy to remember our heroes. The two biggest are the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean War Memorial which are located at Front and Spruce Streets. Services are held at these two memorials every year on Memorial Day. Other monuments include the Colored Soldiers and Sailors Monument and the WWI Aviators Memorial, both located across the street from the Franklin Institute. And right down the street are the Civil War monuments which straddle the Parkway. At 2nd and Spring Garden is a monument to the soldiers of WWI, the doughboys of the nearby neighborhood. Philadelphia has done a nice job in erecting and maintaining the monuments. I’m sure your hometown has a monument too; take a moment to find out where it is. Those memorialized will be glad you did. Say a prayer for those you know who died in service of their country; and say one for all the others who did too.

Have a pleasant holiday and a great summer.

RIP Neil Weintraub and Bob Weidle.