Memorial Day march
Hundreds of people packed Butler's Main Street, turning the city's thoroughfare into a standing-room-only promenade Monday morning as veterans, JROTC cadets and students paraded through the city to observe Memorial Day.
The day began with pomp and fanfare as members of the Butler Golden Tornado Marching Band joined veterans, service groups, elected officials and others marching along Main Street, to the delight of those standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the sidewalks.
Earlier in the morning officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had conducted a wreath-laying at the VA's New Castle Road campus.
In the city, as participants queued up for the parade, veterans spoke about how the national holiday, which honors the sacrifice of servicemen and women who died while serving in the country's armed forces, evokes sorrow and pride.
Scott McNeil, commandant of the Bantam Marine Corps League Detachment 743, called the day especially poignant for those who lost comrades-in-arms. He called on citizens to take time out of their day to respect the sacrifices of American soldiers.
“Take a moment of silence; post the flag in an honorable way. Just show the unity of the nation, especially these days,” McNeil said. “Take a moment between the barbecues and the fishing — or however you celebrate today — to remember the fallen.”
Dozens of members of the Veteran X program — a support and empowerment program at VA Butler Healthcare that connects veterans with each other — also marched Monday.The group's goal is to help veterans with mental health recovery and other challenges. But on Monday, their purpose was to mourn those beyond helping.“We've lost a lot of veterans over the past year,” said Bill Barger, a group member and U.S. Air Force veteran who served from 1974 to 1982.Barger said the group was mourning the loss of 22 veterans over the last year, most of them younger soldiers who served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.The responsibility of honoring and memorializing America's fallen soldiers doesn't fall just on veterans. About 100 JROTC cadets marched in Monday's parade as well, after spending much of last week placing flags on the grave markers of veterans.The job can be a complex one, veterans' organizations say, because of a lack of detailed records or markers to help identify the final resting places of fallen soldiers.Master Sgt. Kenneth Howard, Army instructor for Butler School District's JROTC program, said the duty can also be touching for many cadets, who end up visiting the graves of friends or relatives.“It's kind of emotional for some of the kids, because they're actually placing flags on relatives' or friends' grave stones,” he said.After the parade's conclusion, observances continued across Butler County.In Butler they finished on a somber note, as veterans groups and visitors gathered at a much smaller ceremony Monday afternoon at North Cemetery.That observance, organized by the American Legion Riders of Lyndora and Butler, Butler VFW Joseph T. Black Post 249 and the Bantam League, featured a reading of the orders of Gen. John Logan, a Union Army commander and central figure in Memorial Day's recognition as a national holiday; President
Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; and remarks by Roy Remone, the Butler County Veteran of the Year.“The men and women who gave their lives in service of this country are undeniably heroes,” said Remone.Remone also detailed the number of county veterans who died over the past year — 305, according to the veterans groups.In Remone's remarks he said those deaths included 89 World War II veterans; 93 Korean War veterans; 80 Vietnam War veterans; five Persian Gulf War veterans, and 32 “peacetime” veterans.Remone also noted that more than 82,000 American soldiers remain missing in action since World War II, leaving a job unfinished that he pledged will never be forsaken.“We will never stop looking and working to bring them home,” he said.Dennis Christie, president of the Legion Riders and a U.S. Army veteran who served as a Military Police officer, said people are often surprised when the learn how many of the county's veterans passed away.Veterans' families are also surprised, he said, when the Legion Riders call to offer escorts to and from deployments, funerals and other events involving members of the armed services.“It's the least you can do for every family,” Christie said. “They just thank you; and you can't do enough for them.”
