MILFORD — Stan Stump of the Ancil Geiger American Legion Post 226 addressed the crowd gathered on Main Street prior to Milford’s Memorial Day Parade. He thanked the town for Saturday’s successful Milford Fest and the organization shown by the service organizations and town employees in preparation for the parade.

Afterward, the legion honor guard and a float of veterans marched to Milford Town Hall, where the flag was at half-mast, to hear Chaplain Bob Gieger give a prayer for those who gave their lives to help secure the freedom Americans now enjoy. The prayer was followed by volleys from the honor guard. The Milford Memorial Day Parade was underway.

As in years past, the Milford parade featured a long line of floats representing service organizations such as the Lions and Kiwanis Clubs, Milford fire, police and utilities, several local businesses and charities, the Boy and Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and many more enthusiastic supporters of the community, all showering expectant children along the sidewalks with candy.

Following the parade, a crowd gathered at Milford Cemetery for a more solemn event.

In a shaded part of the cemetery, the Post 226 honor guard gathered once again to honor comrades who died in the past year. American flags among the gravestones marked where veterans, police and firemen were buried. Gieger thanked the many people “behind the scenes” who placed those flags and helped keep their memory alive.

“Nothing is free in this country,” said Gieger. “Freedom is not free.”

Bob Brown, 92, a World War II veteran, gave thanks to “a million who gave their lives,” noting that most were in their 20s at the time. He asked the crowd to, on the count of three, say “thank you for your service” in unison.

Stan Stump also spoke, thanking God for putting the “proper men in the proper place at the proper time.” He also recited his poem “Remember Us,” which included the lines, “Alive or dead we proved our worth/ In the closest thing to hell on earth.” Stump thanked the town of Milford for always welcoming its soldiers home.

The service concluded with the honor guard and members of the Syracuse Cub Scouts 3828 and Milford Boy Scouts Troop 747 standing at attention before the flag while Boy Scout Griffin Noel performed Taps.