A new tradition for Waukesha’s Memorial Day observance debuted this year, putting a more reflective moment at the forefront of the holiday.
Ditching the loud floats and candy tossing of a typical parade, the Allied Veterans of Waukesha and VFW Post #721 instead held a ceremonial march on May 25 for those killed in service.
Those who observed the ceremony said it evoked a mix of emotions, including honor, loss and pride.
Donna and Bob Kindred, of Waukesha, thought of their son, Adam, who served in the Iraq War and returned home from his first tour at age 19.
For them, Memorial Day is equal parts observance for their son’s service friends and a testament to his own recovery once he returned home.
“Your imagination just runs wild for that entire time they are out there,” Donna Kindred said. “He’s seeing unimaginable things that no 19-year-old should see … We’re so grateful he was able to return, but it took so much to get back right as well.”
“We pray for those and their families still out there serving,” she said. “We know what it’s like.”
It has become more important with time to hold the Waukesha ceremony as participation has waned, she added.
“I wish there were more people here to celebrate this,” she said. “It’s something we really need to keep strong so that every generation knows the sacrifices everyone has made, overseas and at home.”
The Allied Veterans of Waukesha discontinued the traditional parade in 2024, citing troubles with volunteer and public participation. Other observances like the riverside flower ceremony continued, but it wasn’t until 2026 that the parade was reinvented into the new Memorial Day March.
The march was more solemn than a bombastic barbecue some have come to expect for Memorial Day, but for those who gathered, it was a more fitting approach.
“It’s just a three-day weekend with cookouts, lounging and taking the day off for some. For others, it’s about everything their life has come to mean,” said August Delano of Waukesha.
Closure still far for some veteran families in Waukesha
During the march, dozens of families carried portraits and memorabilia of their fallen family members down Main Street.
At the bridge ceremony, Scott and Sheri Greger threw flowers in honor of Jack DeLillis, Conrad Wise and Norman Cain, family members they have lost in American conflicts.
The Greger’s 10-year-old son, Eli, held a portrait of DeLillis, his great-uncle who died in World War II, near the quiet and slow rushing of Waukesha’s River Walk park.
Eli said it was important to keep the memory of DeLillis alive to remember a society that fights to “not have kings rule.”
DeLillis was killed in the Battle of Tarawa on Betio Island in Kiribati. His body was never recovered, but the search for his remains continues, Scott Greger said.
Their family gets “glimmers” of news every now and again, but nothing concrete has come up since DeLillis went missing in action, he said.
Without the closure of a proper burial or memorial, Scott and Sheri Greger said Memorial Day is that much more important to them.
“Obviously, there is so much pride and gratefulness for the sacrifice he made, but for closure, there’s holes there,” Scott Greger said. “We just hold out hope and we keep that watch going. You have to keep it going in the way you live and your conduct.”
Caden Perry is a reporter with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and can be reached at CLPerry@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Waukesha debuts new Memorial Day tradition with solemn march
Reporting by Caden Perry, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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