SVR National Commander Maj. Gen. Robert E. Grim rides in the presidential carriage escorting President Abraham Lincoln (portrayed by James Hayden).
Submitted photos
One of the Sons of Veterans Reserve (SVR) units marching in the Gettysburg parade.
Henry Casey Camp member Jordan Milburn (left) carried the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War Commander-in-Chief’s flag in the parade and Cameron Lowery, Sons of Veterans Reserve Assistant National Chaplain carried the SVR National Commander’s flag.
Maj. Gen. Robert E. Grim (right) presents an award to Lt. Col. Allen Teller during a Gettysburg Remembrance Day SVR awards ceremony. Looking on at left is SVR Deputy Commander Brig. Gen. Donald E. Darby and Henry Casey Camp member Lt. Col. Shane Milburn, National SVR Adjutant General is at the podium.
President Abraham Lincoln delivered his now famous Gettysburg Address 160 years ago on Nov. 19, 1863 as he participated in the dedication of a new national cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for soldiers killed during a three-day battle that July at Gettysburg.
A couple weekends ago, an estimated 20,000 spectators lined the streets of Gettysburg to watch approximately 3,500 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) members and Civil War re-enactors, both Union and Confederate, march through the streets of Gettysburg to commemorate Lincoln’s famous address.
The military parade is the highlight of several annual Remembrance Day events held in Gettysburg. For the past 67 years the Sons of Veterans Reserve (SVR) has organized and sponsored the Civil War-era military parade. The SVR is the military department of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, a congressionally-chartered patriotic organization whose members are descendants of Union Civil War Veterans. The SUVCW was created in 1881 by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and is the legal heir to the Grand Army of the Republic.
In addition to the parade, the SVR conducts a wreath laying ceremony on the battlefield at the statue of Albert Woolson, who was the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic. The memorial was placed there in 1956 by the Auxiliary to the SUVCW. The SVR national commander serves as the master of ceremonies for the event and about 500 people attended this year.
Remembrance Day closed with the annual military ball sponsored by the SVR. Over 400 dancers enjoyed music by the Philadelphia Brigade Band and dance instruction by the Victorian Dance Ensemble. All profits from the ball are donated to the Gettysburg National Military Park for monument preservation. Donations to date total over $93,000.
The uniformed members of the local Henry Casey Camp SUVCW are called Company C, 20th Ohio Volunteer Infantry SVR, and several of those members were in Gettysburg to not only participate in the parade, but to observe the change of command ceremony for the national leader of the SVR; who for the past 16 years has been Robert E. Grim, of Bloomingburg.
Grim has been a member of the SVR for 31 years and was elected national leader of the SVR on Nov. 17, 2007 and has been re-elected leader five times. He is the first person in the 120-year history of the SVR to hold the rank of major general. He asked to be retired to the SVR Inactive Reserve where he will retain his rank as a major general, but will no longer be responsible for the management of the SVR. His deputy commander Brigadier General Donald E. Darby was elected to succeed him as national SVR commander.
Grim is a retired Miami Trace High School history teacher and a United States Air Force Vietnam War veteran, who is also a member of both the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame and the Ohio Senior Citizens Hall of Fame. He served as the national commander-in-chief of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War from August 2002 – August 2003.
