PASCACK VALLEY–Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day. The annual remembrance, which came about in the 1860s to honor those who died in the Civil War, was so named because it was a time to decorate the soldiers’ graves with flags and flowers. Decoration Day was always held on May 30, because flowers would be blooming all over the country by that time. The holiday was later moved to the last Monday in May in order to create a three-day weekend.
Memorial Day has always been an important occasion in the Pascack Valley, and the Pascack Historical Society has photographs of observances going back well over a century. In this photograph above, from the museum’s archive, Park Ridge residents of the 1930s have held a solemn graveside service. Some of the men in the back are wearing hats that show they are members of the American Legion. What is now Park Ridge’s Jedh C. Barker post had formed after World War I, and in the 1930s it was still going by its original name, Pascack Valley Post 153.
We know this photo must have been taken after 1932, as the flag on the left is for Park Ridge’s chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This local D.A.R. chapter, which formed in the spring of 1932, was for any adult woman from Park Ridge, Montvale, or Woodcliff Lake who had been admitted to the membership of the national organization.
In the 1930s the conflict that everyone most closely associated with Memorial Day was the Great War, or World War I as it later came to be called. America’s involvement lasted 1917–1918, but in that time the nation lost mor than 116,000 servicemembers. The living veterans of that war were still in their 30s and 40s and kept the torch of patriotism burning bright for their fallen comrades.
There were also a few Civil War veterans still kicking around the Pascack Valley. After the Civil War, the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), a fraternal organization for Union veterans, formed in 1866. There were posts all over the Northern U.S., and this region’s GAR was based in Westwood. At one time it had a flourishing membership of men from all over this section of Bergen County who had served with the 22nd New Jersey Volunteers.
By 1927 the chapter was down to five living members. The last man standing was 90-year-old Henry J. Herring of Emerson, who died in 1934.
For as long as their health allowed, the men of the GAR were always present at Memorial Day events, walking in the parades until their age forced them to ride in automobiles.
— Kristin Beuscher is president of Pascack Historical Society.