Column: A Memorial Day Experience in Sandyvale
By Dave Hurst
© 2022 Hurst Media Works
Having been to the Sandyvale Memorial Gardens’ annual Memorial Day ceremony in Johnstown a number of times, I didn’t want to miss it but wasn’t worried about catching all of the ceremony. For it is less about the program than the experience.
A small parade onto the grounds was led by a bagpiper and featured honor guards of the Marine Corps League and the Sons of Union Veterans, along with Civil War-period re-enactors. There were various recognitions and presentations, a solemn honoring of those who sacrificed their lives in service to our nation, and a keynote speaker reflecting upon the day’s significance.
While I need this annual reminder of Memorial Day’s deepest meaning, the ceremony isn’t the only way to perceive it. Not in Sandyvale, where all one needs to do is to “be present” as pastors like to say.
The day was gorgeous: sunny, still, warm. Walkers and cyclists passed me on the asphalt path. Near and distant birds, now in the bloom of breeding season, chattered constantly.
Nearly a football field away stood a large, beige and yellow striped open-sided tent, where the ceremony was underway. Softly the still air carried a young-woman’s voice, singing the National Anthem.
“Sandy Vale” was Johnstown’s first community cemetery, the hallowed grounds where veterans from eight wars, dating from the French and Indian War, were buried. Sadly, its location along the Stonycreek River also made it vulnerable to flood waters which had no regard for the site’s sacred character.
Many of the interred eventually were moved to a cemetery on higher ground. Others’ locations were lost as flood waters tumbled their gravestones about. Today memorial stones that remain are clustered respectfully under shade trees in three groupings but in no apparent order.
Surnames are prominent on many of the markers. Others start with “Mother” or “Father,” The oldest stone I spotted was dated 1884. Another reported that the commemorated man was 71 years, 1 month and 15 days old when he died on May 31, 1889.
That was the date of “The Great Johnstown Flood” and the best-known histories described Sandy Vale as one of the settings. Memorial Day observances there the day before had just wrapped up when the first raindrops started to fall…
For that reason, for the grouped cemetery stones, and for the Cannon Circle, so-named for the Civil War-era cannon in its center, Sandyvale – as it is now written – always has had a historical and hallowed feel for me.
The circle, rimmed with markers bearing the names and service of Civil War veterans, gets special attention on Memorial Day. A tablet affixed to a stone base beside the circle commemorates General Order #1 of May 5, 1868, that established the 30th of May each year as a day to decorate the graves of those who fell in battle during the Civil War.
Cannon Circle is where a woman and little girl, both garbed in mid-19th century period clothing, placed memorial wreaths to honor the fallen. Those attending stood in respect as the bagpiper piped “Amazing Grace.”
After the ceremony and beyond the Veterans Memorial grove, however, Sandyvale’s scene shifted. A bright red, purple, blue and yellow inflated bounce house stood ready to greet the rambunctious. Pop-up canopies shaded tables and chairs, a barbecue stand was ready to feed the public and Sandyvale volunteers were selling hanging baskets and other plants.
Classic cars, polished and gleaming, were on display with hoods raised. Carefully crafted and tended floral beds greeted visitors with a long backdrop of deep-purple blossomed irises, purple rocket-like salvias, bright red begonias and clusters of yet-to-blossom greenery that I couldn’t identify.
For me the natural beauty and peacefulness, the history, the honor for those who gave all for our country, and the joys of this public space made Sandyvale a perfect place to “be present” on Memorial Day.
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This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Dave Hurst column about
