History of remembrance

Memorial Day is sometimes seen as the unofficial first three-day weekend of the summer, or at its most solemn, a time to only briefly remember fallen soldiers. But in years past, Huntington Beach was home to mass memorial events, both on the day and throughout the year.

On the national holiday, which came into existence after the Civil War, veterans’ groups like the Grand Army of the Republic would make sure graves were decorated. They were busy other times of the year as well, making sure those who served and died were remembered.

From 1905 to 1923, veterans’ groups and their auxiliaries set up encampments of hundreds or more in Huntington Beach every summer, said Glen Roosevelt, junior vice commander with the Sons of Veterans of the Civil War.

Dozens of newspaper articles from the era describe the festivities, which ranged from a solemn read-off of comrades who died in the past year to high-spirited entertainment like dancing and singing. Veterans of all kinds went under military discipline for the week — rising to reveille and retiring at night to taps, wearing full military-style uniforms, and making camp as though it were 1865 again, right down to the food.

“Today was bean day and hundreds of old soldiers and the members of the auxiliary corps sat down to a big dinner consisting of beans, beans and beans,” a 1909 Los Angeles Times article states.

These encampments drew Civil War, Spanish-American War, and later World War I veterans from across Southern California, Roosevelt said.

Veterans’ groups “would make deals with the Pacific Electric railway to get special rates,” he said. “They just brought their whole families down there. Often their wives were members of one of the two or three auxiliaries, and children would be in the sons’ and daughters’ groups.”

In the early years, the group at the heart of it all was the Grand Army of Republic, the massive organization for Civil War veterans that was a cornerstone of civic life in the country, Roosevelt said. But as those already-old men dwindled in numbers, groups like the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars took over.

The city’s Memorial Day ceremony in 1930 wasn’t that different in some ways from the present day, as described by a Los Angeles Times article: “Rev. J.G. Hurst, pastor of the Christian church, will deliver the Memorial address, the American Legion firing-squad will fire a salute of honor, patriotic organizations will scatter flowers on the waters, and the Municipal Band will play a brief program of appropriate airs.”

In those days, however, the crowning tradition was its widely-attended processions to the graves of fallen soldiers, especially those of Civil War veterans.

“All the cemeteries were out of town, and everyone would get together at the meeting hall and march out to the graves,” Roosevelt said.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at michael.alexander@latimes. com.