Coplay American Legion Stanley W. Reinhard Jr. Post 426 kicked off its Memorial Day weekend ceremony May 29 at the Coplay Saengerbund veterans memorial, South Fifth and Hokendauqua streets.

Post Commander Larry Gutleber led the ceremony to honor service members fallen in defense of the nation, democracy and freedom.

The outdoor event included stopping at eight locations in Coplay, Hokendauqua and Stiles.

The honor guard, with members of the Coplay Legion ladies auxiliary, begin the ceremony at the war memorial at Coplay Saengerbund. A prayer was read and a wreath placed by the monument. There was a gun salute to the dead and concluded with the playing of taps.

Navy veteran Joseph J. Bundra Jr., a former Coplay mayor, played taps on the automatic bugle.

The parties traveled to and repeated the ceremony at the St. Peter Roman Catholic Cemetery, St. John’s Lutheran Church Cemetery, the Stiles War Memorial, the Coplay Cemetery, the Coplay War Memorial on Maple Street, on the Coplay-Northampton Bridge to deposit a wreath onto the Lehigh River and finished with services at the Coplay Legion Post 426, 134 S. Second St.

On hand for the ceremony were Penny, Jody and Jeffrey Reinhard, all children of Stanley W. Reinhard Jr., the Post’s namesake. Stanley died in 2015 at the age of 84. Stanley’s wife, Beverly, died in 2021, five days after the Memorial Day celebration.

Jeffrey Reinhard carried the American flag throughout the event. He is a longtime member of the Coplay Post Sons of the American Legion. The three Reinhard children were visibly moved and emotional at the ceremony.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. Three years after the Civil War ended - May 5, 1868 - the leader of an organization of Union veterans, called the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead with flowers.

There are a number of GAR veterans buried in the Coplay Cemetery.

Decoration Day evolved into Memorial Day to honor all those who died at war. The Coplay Legion continues this historical tradition.

Coplay Legion Adjutant Officer Roland Yudt, a veteran who has participated in the Post’s Memorial Day event for many years, was asked how long the ceremony has occurred.

“They were doing this before I was born,” said Yudt, who is in his 70s.

At the end of the ceremony, Gutleber expressed gratitude to all who attended to make the 2022 event a success.