WAY BACK WHEN WEDNESDAY - 100 years ago this week, Santa Barbara had one of the largest Memorial Day Parades it had ever had. The Great War was over, and the soldiers (most of them) were home again. The oldest veterans headed the parade. The local paper wrote, "Noble old veterans of the Civil War rode down State Street … The 'Old Boys in Blue' occupied [automobiles]. Their sturdy faces still hold suggestion of the days of old, when, in their youth, like these striplings in khaki, they went forth to battle for their native land and the Union."
Next came the veterans of the war in Europe. "They stepped with the exactness of machines, erect, quick, eager, and none who looked on from the sidewalk but felt the surging of pride for the youngsters who whipped the trained armies of the Kaiser."
There were also ceremonies at the Santa Barbara Cemetery for those who would never return. And out in the harbor, flowers were thrown onto the water from boats. "The pretty ceremony could be witnessed by the thousands from the beach. A volley was fired by the Sixth Division in concluding the services." (Image: Wikimedia)