Song serves as way to remember, honor fallen comrades in war

By ROBERT W. JACKSON

Local veterans fear the traditional military sing will become a thing of the past.

LISBON — Every year, at two hours before midnight on the night before Memorial Day, Jack Hammitt and his former brothers in arms don their old military caps, stand at attention, and sing to the dead.

They lift their voices to honor their fallen comrades, those who died in service to their country.

It has been that way for some 60 years in this village in the heart of Columbiana County. In the ceremony’s earliest years, nearly 100 village veterans would march to the center of town along a candlelit parade route. But, lately, it is only time that marches on, and some fear that eventually the passage of time will bring the end of the decades-old tradition.

“There are still enough of us left that we don’t want to let it go by the wayside. The residents seem to enjoy it,” said Hammitt, a Korean War Army veteran and commander of the John J. Welsh American Legion Post 275. “But there are fewer of us every year. I don’t know how many more years we’ll be able to keep it going.”

The musical tradition began just after World War II, when the American Legion post began producing an annual minstrel show as a fundraising event. The men decided to get together on Memorial Day weekend to sing again, performing military and patriotic songs instead of minstrel music, Hammitt said. The minstrels were discontinued many years ago, but the military singing has continued, always at 10 p.m. on the Sunday before Memorial Day.

No one seemed to know the reason why the ceremony always begins at 10 p.m.

Last year was the first time in its history that the event was canceled because of bad weather, Hammitt said. He said veterans have sung in the rain before, but last year there was a heavy storm that kept them from singing. This year, he hopes to have a backup plan for an indoor facility if the weather turns nasty.

Hammitt said that in the 1950s and 1960s, when the post’s roster boasted higher numbers, the veterans would divide into three units and march to the village square to sing. One group started on North Market Street and marched south, while the others started on each end of Lincoln Way, which runs east and west, and they would all arrive at the square at the same time.

Residents along the parade route turned off their house lights and lighted candles in their yards. The candles were distributed the day before by local Boy Scouts.

“In the beginning, the lights were all turned out in the village,” said Hammitt, 77. “Even the street lights were turned off so the only lights available were the candles. Traffic lights, street lights, everything went out.”

Once at the square, the veterans would sing songs including the themes for each branch of the military, and patriotic songs like “You’re A Grand Old Flag,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “God Bless America.” The singing was followed by a firing squad salute and taps.

“We’ve been doing pretty much the same songs for all these years,” Hammitt said. “It’s the same now as it was back then.”

When the singing ended on the square, the veterans would load into the back of pickup trucks and be driven around the village, singing again as they were driven through the streets.

As time passed and the former soldiers grew older, they no longer marched to the square. Instead, they rode in trucks along the parade route. Ultimately, they would simply meet at the legion post, about two blocks west of the square, and walk to the center of town led by a police escort.

In recent years, the Memorial Day-eve event has been moved from the square to a platform in front of the Erie Station Museum, just south of the square. The museum is operated by the Lisbon Historical Society.

Hammitt said close to 100 veterans participated in the event back in the ’60s.

“Now if we have 25, that’s a good crowd,” he said, noting that the legion’s membership has declined as the age of its members has risen. “There just aren’t that many of us left anymore.”

At 39, Vic Coleman said he is the youngest member of the post, where he serves as first vice commander. He doesn’t know why other younger veterans don’t get involved, and said it’s difficult for the Legion, as well as all service organizations, to attract new members.

“It’s hard because there are so many other things to do now. TV, computers, you have to compete with all that now,” said Coleman, who served in the Air Force from 1988 to 1990. “The Masons, the Lions Club, the Eagles Club — everyone will tell you the same thing.”

To be eligible for membership in the American Legion, a veteran must have served during a time of conflict, Coleman said. However, a Legion membership is not required to join in the Memorial Day singing event.

“If you served [in the military], come on down. We would love to have you sing,” he said.

Coleman said he grew up beside the Lisbon Cemetery, where a service is held each year to honor fallen veterans on Memorial Day.

“To me, that was a big group of heroes that I saw every year, and I wanted to be a part of that,” Coleman said, explaining why he joined the Legion.

Coleman and Hammitt said they are not aware of any other community, at least in this area, whose veterans meet and sing for Memorial Day the way Lisbon’s do.

“It is unique and it is special,” Coleman said.

“It’s a pretty somber event. We try to keep it that way,” said Hammitt. “It’s in memory of veterans, and that’s what Memorial Day should be about.”