The Onondaga County Civil War Round Table organized Sgt.
William C. Lilly Day. They discovered that when the members of the GAR post named for
Sgt. Lilly moved his body from where it was buried to the area of Woodlawn Cemetery
dedicated for the use of their post, none of his comrades or family were present.
This oversight was caused when the officer responsible for the notification of the
members was taken quite ill.
Wanting to put this right, the OCCWRT planned an event
that did much more than that. They had present a Brigadier General, the current
Commander of the New York Air National Guard, a state assemblyman, and an assistant to the head of
New York Veteran Affairs. Together, they present Sgt. Lilly and five other
servicemen from World War II and Korea (three of whom were there) with the Conspicuous
Service Cross, the highest military award from the state. Sgt. Lilly was the first
Civil War veteran to receive this award.
There was a fife and drum corps
there in Civil War uniform, a Civil War Honor Guard to give a 21 Gun Salute, and a bugler from the Army to
top it all off by playing taps.
