Wayne King served as the master of ceremonies for the annual Memorial Day ceremony held at the Bloomingburg cemetery on Monday. King is a member of Bloomingburg Masonic Lodge No. 449, which organizes and conducts the Memorial Day ceremony.
Retired banker and community leader Bill Cupp was the featured speaker for this year’s 9:30 a.m. ceremony. Cupp is also a member of the Bloomingburg Masonic Lodge and a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason. Cupp reviewed the role President Abraham Lincoln played in the Nov. 19, 1863 dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, which was needed as a result of the July, 1863 Battle at Gettysburg. The Gettysburg event has also been incorporated into one of the ceremonies conducted by the Scottish Rite Masons.
Washington Municipal Court Judge Victor Pontious recited the Gettysburg Address and gave some very interesting information about the events connected to how Lincoln was treated at the time he gave the now famous speech.
Company C, 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry Sons of Veterans Reserve, which is the military component of the Henry Casey Camp No 92 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, fired a military gun salute. The unit is named in honor of Civil War Medal of Honor recipient Henry Casey, who was the treasurer of the Bloomingburg Masonic Lodge for many years and is buried in the Bloomingburg Cemetery.
John Pfeifer played taps, and lodge member Jarrod Clark gave the invocation and benediction.
