Honoring 250 Years Since the American Revolution
Reading, MA — The Town of Reading invites residents and visitors to join in solemn observance this Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2025, as we honor and remember the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country.
This year’s observance holds special significance as we mark 250 years since the start of the American Revolution, a powerful reminder of our enduring legacy of service and sacrifice.
The day will begin with a Memorial Day Parade at 9:00 AM, starting from the American Legion on Ash Street. All Veterans are warmly welcomed and encouraged to participate.
Following the parade, the Town will conduct ceremonial services at several local cemeteries to pay tribute to those who served in all wars:
- 9:15 AM – Laurel Hill Cemetery
- 10:45 AM – Forest Glen Cemetery
- 11:30 AM – Charles Lawn Cemetery
- 12:00 PM (Noon) – Wood End Cemetery
Each year, a group of volunteers decorates Reading’s four cemeteries in preparation for Memorial Day. Each veteran receives a metal marker, and then the Scouts and other groups of young people will place a red geranium and attach a flag to the marker. The result is a spectacular display that pays tribute to the sacrifice that each of these Veterans has made for our country.
As the 250th anniversary of our nation’s birth approaches, many towns and cities are planning to commemorate the people and the events that led up to July 4, 1776. Thirty-three new Revolutionary War markers will be placed on the graves of all those who participated in that war and are buried here in Reading’s oldest cemetery, Laurel Hill. Each marker will be adorned with a flag used by our newly formed country, commonly called the Betsy Ross flag. It has a circle of 13 stars on a blue field and 13 red and white stripes. The Reading Preservation Trust funded the new markers, and the flags were donated anonymously by Reading citizens.
In the process of researching our Town’s history to confirm which graves should be marked as Revolutionary War soldiers, it was determined that Laurel Hill is also the resting place of ten individuals who fought in the Colonial Wars. These wars took place before the Revolutionary War, when we were still a colony of Britain. They began with King Philip’s War in 1675, continued through several other conflicts, and ended with the French and Indian War in 1763. Those who fought in the Colonial Wars are not considered U.S. veterans. Why? – because the United States did not exist yet. But those men served to defend the land on which they had settled. New Colonial War markers are in the process of being forged. They will not be completed in time to display for this Memorial Day, but you will see flags prominently displayed at their headstones. Those flags, commonly called the King’s Colors flags, look similar to the current British flag and are the flag under which those Colonial Soldiers would have fought. After all, they were British citizens.
Of those ten Colonial War soldiers, five later served in the Revolutionary War. Therefore, they will have two markers (Colonial and Revolutionary) and two flags (King’s Colors and Betsy Ross) to commemorate their service in both! Thank you to the Reading Antiquarian Society, owners of Parker Tavern, for funding the Colonial markers. And again, the flags were anonymously donated.
The Town of Reading and the Cemetery Department take great pride in all our cemeteries. And all of us should take pride in the history that those cemeteries represent. Those who have sacrificed to defend this country from its early days to today deserve our respect and gratitude.
