Memorial Day Should Be Memorable!

Memorial Day should be quite memorable in Elburn this year. About 20 members of the 8th Illinois Cavalry re-enactors will be our special guests at this year's ceremony. They are coming to Elburn to pay their respects to 11 veterans from their original Civil War regiment who are buried in Blackberry Cemetery.

The 8th Illinois will be bringing a color guard, a sabre squad, and a rifle squad to our event. The rifle squad equipped with breech loading Sharp's carbines are scheduled to fire a unique volley to salute their honored comrades.

The 8th Illinois Cavalry while under the command of General John Buford used a Sharp's carbine to fire the first shot at the Battle of Gettysburg. Many historians credit General Buford with first identifying and defending the high ground that the Union tenaciously held to win the battle.

The Kaneland High School band will also be attending this year's event. And our local Boy Scouts from Troop 7 will fire a miniature cannon volley of their own.

Bruce Conley and I will once again dust off our rusty trumpets to play "Taps" and "echo" at the end of the service. "Taps" is a simple bugle call to play, but the challenge is to pick up what seems like an ice cold horn and hit all 24 notes of the call without a miss. It gets a little bit harder to do each year. But, the honor of playing that song one more time is worth it.

So, come join us for a very special Memorial Day ceremony this year at Elburn's Blackberry Cemetery. The short parade steps off from Lions Park at the corner of Filmore and Stetzer by 9:15 am, and our ceremony should begin by 9:30 am near the cemetery flagpole. I'm definitely bringing my camera. You should too!