Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Horace Pysher, who served nearly 39 years in the U.S. Army and Pennsylvania Army National Guard, holding senior enlisted positions at both the division and state levels, provided the Keynote speech.
The 28th Infantry Division National Shrine is located on the grounds of the Pennsylvania Military Museum off Route 322, which, in Pennsylvania, is named the 28th Division Highway in honor of the 28th ID.
Always held a week before Memorial Day, the ceremony features the 28th ID Band, equipment displays and an artillery gun salute.
Founded on March 12, 1879, the 28th ID is the oldest continuously serving division in the U.S. Army. Originally known as the Pennsylvania Division, it was redesignated the 28th Division in 1917, after it was federalized for World War I and later redesignated as the 28th Infantry Division.
The division's exploits during World War I earned its Soldiers the moniker "Men of Iron” from General of the Armies John Pershing, commander of the Allied Armies.
During World War II, the division's Soldiers famously marched down the Champs-Élysées following the liberation of Paris before returning to the front lines and taking part in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge.
Boalsburg claims to have started Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day. It was here – at a cemetery across the road from what would become the grounds of the division shrine – that townspeople pledged to meet each year to place flowers on the graves of Civil War soldiers.
