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Margate honors those who died for American freedoms

  • Downbeach

The Kornblau family of Bucks County, Pa.

MARGATE - The city held its annual Memorial Day Parade and Service Monday, May 30 to recognize and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

The Kornblau family of Bucks County, who summer in Margate each year, sat on blankets to watch the parade pass by.

Daughter Sarah Kornblau, 10, was remembering her four great grandads who served in World War II. She was fortunate that all her granddads returned after the war. They were Gil Katz, Norman Kornblau and George Morris, who each served in the U.S. Army and Patrick Romano who served in the Navy.

"I'm happy because it's Memorial Day and it's important to have a day for the people who died for our country," she said.

Her younger brother Thomas, 7, said, "It is a day to celebrate those who served."

Rachel Bachman, president of the Margate Mothers Association, which organizes the parade each year, served as mistress of ceremonies, while Holy Trinity Parish Choir Director Teddi Fusco and her Choir sang the National Anthem and other patriotic songs. Children in the city's youth athletic programs led the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Mayor Michael Becker, an Army veteran, explained how Memorial Day was created, originally as Decoration Day, when familes would decorate the graves of soldiers who died in war, and later renamed Memorial Day.

"Since the Civil War, more than 1 million Americans have died in service to their country," he said, proving that "freedom is not free."

Special guest speaker was Robert Boscelli Jr. of Ventnor, a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, who kept his remarks brief but poignant, remembered his comrades in arms.

Resident Samantha Sutor watched the parade and service and said she hoped that the day would remind everyone to be grateful for the freedoms they enjoy as Americans.

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