If you noticed something different about this year’s Parade, you were right.  For the first time since 1982 Frank and Carole Ortner are not actively involved.  After the 150th last year, the Ortners decided to “retire” from active involvement and focus their...

Prior to Flag Day 1923 there were no federal or state regulations governing display of the American Flag. On that date the National Flag Code was adopted by the Army & Navy. However, it was not until 1942 that Congress passed...

It is really the 150th Parade?  We think so!  Tradition says Malvern moved the commemoration of the Paoli Massacre it had been holding since 1817 to the end of May in 1869, the year following the establishment of Decoration Day.  The McCall Post No. 31 of the GAR in...

Sadly, the “Great War”, the “War to End All Wars” wasn’t.  It was triggered in July, 1914 by the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and ended at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, in a railroad car outside Compiegne, France; all at an...

Although the Paoli Massacre took place in 1777, no formal recognition or marker of the burial site existed for 40 years.  In 1817, at the suggestion of Dr. William Darlington, the Republican Artillerists and a group of local citizens erected a marble monument.  It was...

This year we honor Sandra Kelley, the former Malvern Borough Manager as Grand Marshall of the 2017 Parade.  Sandy has been a fixture in Malvern and a staunch supporter of the Memorial Parade for as long as many of us can remember.  Born in the Wilkes-Barre area, Sandy...

It has been called THE GREAT WAR and THE WAR TO END ALL WARS. For more than a century Americans obeyed George Washington’s injunction in his Farewell Address to keep out of the political affairs of Europe. That obedience ended on April 6, 1917 when Congress voted for...

For more than two years after World War II started in Europe, Americans debated what U.S. policy should be toward the Axis Powers. Anti-interventionist leaders bitterly denounced what they saw as an unnecessary involvement by the US in the affairs of Europe. The...

Here is a sampling of the significant military events with milestone anniversaries this year: 25th Anniversary of the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait, August 2, 1990 On a map, Kuwait looks like a small and inconsequential patch of land. But to Iraqi dictator Saddam...

The capture of Richmond had been the goal of the Union Army since the beginning of the Civil War. The Confederate capital lay tantalizingly close to Washington, only 100 miles, but it took four years of hard battle before the city fell to Union troops on April 3,...

Although officially celebrating our 125th anniversary this year, the Malvern area was originally settled by Welsh immigrants in the 17th century who bought land from William Penn.Churches, trains, and a few businesses were the nucleus of the village. In 1835, the East...

"If the best minds in the world had set out to find us the worst possible location in the world to fight this damnable war," U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson once said, “the unanimous choice would have been Korea.” Since the beginning of the 20th century, Korea...

Of course you know about the Battle of Gettysburg, but did you know that next month is the 150th anniversary of the battle? You may remember how after his victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA, in May 1863, Robert E. Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia in...

The Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home. Symbolic of the defining event of the 20th Century, the memorial is a monument to the spirit, sacrifice, and...

Raymond A Campli served as a Seaman First Class in the US Navy from October, 1944 until February. 1946.  Ray served on the USS Ruchamkin, an amphibious assault transport operating along the east coast and in the Caribbean.  For his service Ray was awarded the American...

The PBM Lions Club is affiliated with Lions Clubs International and has been a longtime supporter of our Parade.  Started in1917 by Chicago business leader Melvin Jones, Lions Clubs International is the world's largest service club organization, with more than 1.3...

Grand Marshall James “Jay” Raffetto, Hospital Corpsman, Company B, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division Division On August 5, 2010 James “Jay” Raffetto, a young Navy Corpsman was seriously injured in Afghanistan by an IED (improvised explosive device)...

World War II transformed the United States Armed Forces from essentially all-male to mixed-gender forces.  Because of the severe need to free as many male soldiers as possible for combat, Congresswoman Edith Nurse Rogers introduced a bill in May 1941 calling for the...

The Lukens Band, founded in 1911, was originally intended as a “more attractive and wholesome” activity than baseball, for Coatesville youth on Sunday afternoons.  With the belief that "music has charms to soothe a savage beast", Mr. and Mrs. Charles Lukens Huston...

The US Army Materiel Command Band was constituted on January 15, 1944 as the 389th Army band and was activated the following week at Fort Monmouth, NJ. The AMC Band has direct ties to the US Army Signal Corps Band and the 13th Cavalry Regimental Band, though it does...

World War I was also known as “The War to End all Wars”.  The underlying cause was the increasing economic and military competition between Britain and Germany; the spark that ignited it was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian...

The Paoli Memorial Association was founded in 1896.  It has responsibility for managing and protecting the Memorial Grounds and the gravesite, located on Monument Ave. in Malvern borough.  The Memorial Grounds are the final resting place for the 53 men who were killed...

Born in Paoli on January 1st, 1745, Anthony Wayne was a dashing, brave soldier in the young Continental army.  Known for his bravery and quick temper, "Mad Anthony" first served in Canada in 1776.  Later, Wayne's troops helped defend Philadelphia at the Battle of...

A Special Remembrance for “Mr. Cakewalk”, Dr. Wiley Behler Wiley loved the Memorial Parade.  A Committee member for twenty-three years, he walked along the parade route passing out flags and taking pictures and videos.  In recent years, he delighted the crowd dressed...

The Vietnam War was in the successor to the French Indochina War in which the French fought to maintain control of their colony against an independence movement led by Communist Party leader Ho Chi Minh. After the Vietnamese Communist forces, or Viet Minh, defeated...

Josiah Hunter Hibberd was born and raised in West Chester, PA. He joined the Navy in 1943 during his senior year at West Chester High School. Mr. Hibberd served in World War II for 4 ½ years mostly in submarine and convoy duty in the Atlantic Theater including...

American journalist George Hicks made history with his radio broadcast from the deck of the U.S.S. Ancon at the start of the morning "You see the ships lying in all directions, just like black shadows on the grey sky," he described to his listeners. "Now planes are...

Rear Admiral D. Brian Peterman, United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral Peterman was raised in Malvern and is a 1968 graduate of Great Valley High School. In 1972, he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from West Chester University and entered the Coast Guard through...