Parade, moments of remembrance in Burlington County

BEVERLY, N.J. (WPVI) -- Locals turned out, despite the cloudy skies, for the annual Memorial Day parade in Burlington County.

"I'm enjoying myself. It's a good day to be out. A lot of lovely, beautiful people," William Davis of Burlington, New Jersey said.

Folks lined the route as the Edgewater Park-Beverly Parade wound its way through the streets, delighting the crowds who were watching.

"She loves seeing the fire trucks and hearing the noises and lights and she loves the candy," Sloan Johnson of Beverly, New Jersey said of her young daughter.

The parade is a slice of Americana, loved by young and old, and families were there to watch it all.

"It brings back a lot of memories, now that I'm older and I feel the joy in my heart," Janice McCleary of Palmyra, N.J. said.

The parade always ends near the Beverly National Cemetery where the rows and rows of graves are a stark reminder of what this day is all about.

Over 49,000 veterans and their families are buried at the cemetery.

"In our case we lost our brother and we make it a point to come visit and make sure he's remembered," Carl Jordan of Northeast Philadelphia said.

91-year-old Navy veteran Thomas Fitzgerald of Delran and his family came to visit relatives and a stranger. New Jersey native John Joseph Gormley was killed in World War II when the USS Orestes was hit by a kamikaze Pilot.

"He paid the ultimate price and I think that's important that we remember," Fitzgerald said.

Three generations of the McDaniel family gather every Memorial Day at the graves of Otho and Lillian. Their dad was a Marine during World War II.

"The fact that we have a date set aside just to remember them, it's just a nice day and something we really ought to do," daughter Sandra Barnhill said.

And so along do with the parades and picnics, we remember the sacrifice of so many others who went before us.

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