Long-running memorial service gets military flyover
CRANBERRY TWP — Hosting the township’s annual Memorial Day ceremony isn’t exactly a happy occasion for Rex Brown, but he was pleased to finally get a flyover from a military C-17 to cap off events Sunday afternoon, May 28.
“It’s really hard to get a flyover — we were really fortunate,” said Brown, chairman of the township Veterans Memorial Committee and retired member of the U.S. Army and Air Force. “They were all booked up, and I got a call from one of the pilots who said, ‘We just got a request from the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.’
“We’re keeping our fingers crossed that that all happens again next year.”
While Memorial Day is a somber holiday of remembrance of those who died in military service, many people attend Cranberry Township’s ceremony in North Boundary Park each year to commemorate the day with others. In addition to the flyover, the ceremony included military representatives, who placed wreaths for each branch of service, the release of doves and a 21-gun salute.
