LOOKING BACK BY JAMES RADA JR.: Women march in Chambersburg Memorial Day parade for first time in 1929

From Punlicv Opinion:  LOOKING BACK BY JAMES RADA JR.: Women march in Chambersburg Memorial Day parade for first time in 1929

 It wasn't a big step forward in women' s rights, like the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that gave women the right to vote, but it was a step forward.

In fact, it was many steps forward and all of them in unison as women took to the streets of Chambersburg to march in the annual Memorial Day parade in 1929.

"For the first time women of the American Legion Auxiliary appeared in their blue capes, lined in yellow, and their blue overseas caps with yellow piping at the folds. All of the women were dressed in white adding much to the uniformity of their unit," the Public Opinion reported.

The American Legion Auxiliary had been started in 1919, shortly after the American Legion was formed. It quickly became the world's largest patriotic service organization. The Women' s Auxiliary's mission is to honor the sacrifice of those who serve in the U.S. armed forces by enhancing the lives of our veterans, military, and their families, both at home and abroad. Within a year of its formation, there were 1,342 Women's Auxiliary units in 45 states.

Women had marched in other parades prior to this, but because Memorial Day focused on the military and its veterans, women hadn't found a place in the parade line-up. It was only with the organization of the Chambersburg American Legion Auxiliary that the women of Chambersburg became connected with Memorial Day.

The parade also featured the Morris Frock Drum and Bugle Corps of Hagerstown, Md. They were dressed colorfully in red, blue and black and performed military maneuvers as they played music.
Veterans of three wars participated in the parade. "The ever-thinning ranks of the Civil War rode in autos. There were Spanish War veterans with the blue shirts, campaign hats and khaki trousers and leggings and World War veterans, some in khaki uniform and some in civilian attire," the Public Opinion noted.
However, it was the marching women that made the headline on the article in the Public Opinion about the parade.
More than 150 school children, including the high school band, marched in the parade. Also participating were other local civic and patriotic groups.
The May 30, 1929, parade was one of two large Memorial Day activities for Chambersburg. The other event was a special service at the Grand Army of the Republic plot at Cedar Grove Cemetery.
The Rev. Clyde Meadows of the King Street United Brethren Church spoke at the service saying, "Today we love and come to honor the men who for us have exposed limb and life that we might enjoy this freedom. We hate the machine war that made it necessary for these noble men to render such sacrificial service."
He recalled the service that veterans from Chambersburg had rendered in the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World War I.
Then Meadows said, "Today and in the future we shall gain no victory if we lose faith in our dreams. 'Where there is no vision the people perish.' Our dreams are dreams of liberty that have drawn myriads across the seas. Dreams of justice that have heartened the oppressed, where ever the name America was spoken; dreams of opportunity that have gleamed before the eyes of the humble and poor. Dreams of brotherhood and peace that have beckoned the weary and warring peoples of Europe in years past. They are dreams of the America that never can be except as a part of a world freed from the burden of mutual national distrust and hatred, and deceit."
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Looking Back is published every other Monday. James Rada Jr. is an award-winning writer living in Gettysburg. He is the author of four historical novels and has written historical articles for a number of regional and national magazines. For more information, visit his website at http://www.aimpublishinggroup.com.