Veterans honored at Chicora Memorial Day Parade
CHICORA — Most of the borough’s residents spent their Memorial Day on Monday lining the streets for an event that was part celebration, part somber ceremony — the annual Memorial Day parade.
Hours before the parade officially kicked off at 10 a.m., citizens gathered, looking for the best place to park and to view the procession of antique cars, farm machinery, fire engines, and patriotism.
“It’s probably one of the biggest parades that we have in our county, and people come from all over the place,” said Stacy McDonald. Hundreds of people attended.
The parade, and Memorial Day as a whole, took on special meaning for McDonald and her entire family. McDonald’s son, Shane, recently returned from a months-long tour of duty aboard a naval ship, and is staying just long enough to both take part in the parade and witness his sister’s graduation. Shane will return to duty on Monday to be stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
“We’ve been in this area for about 20 years, and he loves farming,” McDonald said. “He wants to eventually move back here and farm.”
The marching band from Karns City Area Jr./Sr. High School led off the parade, followed by a medley of classic cars, farm machinery, fire engines, and floats. As is commonplace at local holiday parades, many of the drivers and passengers of the vehicles threw candy to the onlookers that lined Kittanning and Slippery Rock streets.
Among the procession of fire engines were vehicles representing Lick Hill, Petrolia, Sugarcreek Township, Butler Township and, of course, Chicora itself — although some of Chicora’s emergency vehicles had to cut through the parade route to respond to an emergency.
After the parade, the Karns City band gathered at the honor roll garden on Main Street for the remembrance ceremony, with Vietnam veteran David Fleeger serving as the master of ceremonies, and Chloe Fritch singing the national anthem.
Ron Huff, Butler County Veteran of the Year for 2016-17, read the names of 18 deceased veterans from Chicora. Charles Hetrick, adjutant for Chicora’s American Legion Post 642, rang the ceremonial honor roll bell with each name read. The bell was granted to Chicora for last year’s Memorial Day parade by the McNallen family, and it bears the inscription, “All gave some, and some gave all.”
Pastor James Boomhower served as the guest speaker, relating tales of family members who served in both world wars, including his grandfather, who served in World War I.
“The way he addressed me was, he told me to eat my peas,” Boomhower said. “He said, ‘I’ve got a story to tell you. In 1918, I was in a trench. It was freezing and I had the flu, and if I stuck my head up I’d have been shot.’ His unit was captured and he was a prisoner of war, and while he was a prisoner of war, he almost died of starvation. He had pneumonia and he lost all of his teeth.
“So he’d come up to me and say ‘eat your peas.’”
During the ceremony, Post 642 gave out its annual award for the best students in the area, with the best boy and girl each receiving an award. Cole Johnston and Arabella Wilson received the honors this year.
Wilson earned praise for her essay on patriotism and citizenship, as well as for her active involvement with TAPS — the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors — a non-profit which provides mental health services for grieving relatives of those lost in combat.
“The essay was about how citizenship can be shown, how I show it, and what citizenship is not,” Wilson said, adding, “I’m surprised that I got picked to win.”
