Paul Hughes of Butler leads the Color Guard for the VFW Post 879 during the Memorial Day ceremony held at the North Boundary Park in Cranberry Twp.

One hundred white doves oscillated over Veterans Monument in North Boundary on Sunday afternoon.

Most of the birds released during the ceremony will return to their Butler home, unlike the fallen and missing service men and women they were meant to honor and represent.

“I was drafted during Vietnam, so I had no choice. But you still have to honor the people who died there," said Carl Kriebel, 69, of Adams Township, who served between 1969 to 1971. "There were people you were there with. When I joined, there were people protesting and others going to Canada.”

Sunday marked Kreibel's first time participating in the Memorial Day ceremony in Cranberry Township as a member of the color guard. The ceremony is organized annually by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 879.

A large crowd from the area watched as post members paid tribute to fallen and missing soldiers by laying down nine wreaths, each representing a different branch of the military.

A rifle squad from the Marine Corps League of Ohio Valley Detachment 882 out of Beaver County fired three volleys into the air as part of the ceremony.

Memorial chairman Rex Brown noted that the focal point of the monument is a 20-ton rock taken near Saxonburg. A chip in the rock represents those who are prisoners of war and those who are still missing in action.

Jon R. Lasell Jr., director of Butler VA Healthcare, reminded the crowd that although Memorial Day is now more about the “three Bs - beaches, barbecues and beer,” the original purpose for the federal holiday is to remember and honor people who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

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