What's going on this Memorial Day? Here's what we know

Somerset County communities will be observing Memorial Day, May 27. Here are some of the events planned:

Stoystown Memorial Day Parade and celebrate Stoystown 250

The Stoystown Legion and Lions Club annual celebration will begin with a service in front of Deaner Funeral Home at 1:30 p.m. with the parade immediately following. The service will be live-streamed on the Deaner Funeral Home Facebook page. The parade is sponsored by the Stoystown Lions Club.

This year will be a special celebration of the 250th anniversary of Stoyestown. Parade line-up will begin at 12:15 p.m. and end promptly at 1:15 p.m. Units are asked to assemble at the top of the hill west of Stoystown. To avoid confusion, they request all units enter off Route 30, west of Stoystown, below Rullo Auction Service. Marching units should enter off Route 30 by the NAPA Auto Parts Store. Dash plaques will be given to all parade participants. Anyone with questions about the parade may contact Donald Deaner at 814-442-9278. Main Street in the borough will be closed from 1:15 p.m. until the end of the parade.

The Rev. Rich Pearson of Kantner United Methodist Church will give the invocation and benediction. Jessica Spangler of Stoystown will be the soloist. This year’s keynote speaker will be Mark Ware, executive director of the Somerset County Historical Society and native of Stoystown. Ware’s career spans nearly 50 years of working in the museum field. He will speak about Daniel Stoy, Revolutionary War veteran and founder of Stoystown.

Berlin Memorial Day chicken barbecue

Berlin Boy Scout Troop 135 annual chicken barbecue is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 27 at the Berlin Community Grove. A complete dinner or halves only will be available to eat in or take out.

The Memorial Day chicken dinner has been a tradition in the Berlin community since the 1970s when Valley Grange held it. The Boy Scouts took over in 2005.

Windber

Windber will celebrate Memorial Day on May 27 with a parade beginning at 10 a.m. Memorial Day services will follow in Windber Veterans Park. In the days leading up to Memorial Day, the American Legion Windber Post No. 137, Windber VFW Post No. 4795, and volunteer members of the communities will decorate the graves of veterans in the cemeteries throughout the Windber area. Grave decoration will take place starting at noon May 19. The public is welcome and encouraged to participate.

This year’s guest speaker is Chief Master Sgt. Paul D. Moreau, U.S. Air Force (Ret.). Moreau grew up in the Boston area and graduated from high school in Medford, Massachusetts. After retiring from the Air Force in 2009, he moved to Somerset with his wife, Lorraine, who also is a retired U.S. Air Force non-commissioned officer. They have two sons. The older son, Paul P. Moreau, is an active-duty Major in the U.S. Marine Corps, and their younger son, John V. Moreau, also served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Moreau served his country with great distinction from 1979 to 2009 in the intelligence career field, rising to the rank earned by only the top 1% of the enlisted force. He held a variety of leadership positions to include Command Chief of the 17th Training Wing in Texas, and Command Chief Master Sergeant of 2nd Air Force at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi. He participated in several major military operations and contingencies including deployments to support Operation Deny Flight, the USS Cole incident, and Operation Enduring Freedom. Since his retirement, he has served as a Junior ROTC Leadership Instructor at Somerset Area High School and is active in the Somerset Rotary Club. He is a residential counselor at UPMC, Western Behavioral Health at Twin Lakes in Somerset.

The American Legion Windber Post No. 137 will sponsor a free breakfast for veterans from 7–9 a.m. on Memorial Day at the Post Canteen on 14th Street in Windber. All veterans, their family members, and Memorial Day ceremony participants are welcome.

The Memorial Day celebration is sponsored by the Windber Veterans Association, composed of the American Legion Windber Post No. 137, Windber VFW Post No. 4795, the World War II 50th Anniversary Commemorative Committee and the Windber Veterans Park Committee. The Windber World War II Committee was the guiding force behind the establishment of the Windber Veterans Park. This park was dedicated during Windber’s 100th anniversary celebration in July 1997 in conjunction with the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of America’s participation in World War II. The park is a tribute to all service men and women past, present, and future; and demonstrates the community’s commitment to honor the sons and daughters who have or will answer the call to defend the land they love and the principles for which it stands.

During Memorial Day 2010, a Memorial Wall was dedicated in Veterans Park to honor those Windber area veterans whose service was “above and beyond the call of duty” in defense of our country in time of war. The black granite wall has the names of those who sacrificed their lives for their country including killed in action, missing in action, and prisoners of war from the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Korea War, the Vietnam War, and the Global War on Terrorism.

Somerset

Memorial Day will be observed at the Somerset County Courthouse at the annual ceremony at 9:30 a.m., sponsored by the Somerset Memorial Day Committee. The ceremony will include patriotic readings, speakers, musical selections and the traditional wreath-laying ceremony at the county’s war monuments.

The annual event memorializes all Somerset County veterans who lost their lives in service to our country. “This ceremony is more than a tradition. It is a way to show our fallen soldiers and their families they will always hold a place of honor and remembrance to Somerset County,” said Ronald Mash, Somerset County’s Director of Veteran’s Services.

This year’s guest speaker will be Lt. Col. William Szych, United States Air Force (USAF), Ret. Lt. Col. Szych is a 1971 graduate of Smith Academy in Hatfield, Massachusetts, and the University of Massachusetts where he received a commission through its Air Force ROTC program. He holds a master’s degree from Webster University. Entering active duty in 1975, Lt. Col. Szych spent the next two decades with the USAF, primarily in radar operations including two tours aboard the E-3 AWACS and three NATO tours in Germany, Iceland and England. He retired from active duty in 1975, returning to his hometown of Hatfield, but volunteered to return to active duty following the September 11th terrorist attacks on America.

During that time, he volunteered to deploy overseas to assist in the Global War on Terrorism and was assigned to a war-fighting command post of the four-star general in charge of operations in both Afghanistan and Iraq. From there, he volunteered to follow on tour at the war-fighting headquarters of Operation Iraqi Freedom at Camp Victory on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. He reverted again to retired military status in 2005. Lt. Col. Szych and his wife. Janet. reside in Champion. He remains active in veterans groups and causes and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Patriot Park Foundation in Somerset County.

This year, the American flag will be presented posthumously to Private First Class Nils Thompson of Confluence. Upon his graduation from Turkeyfoot Valley High School in 2004, PFC Thompson became a member of the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade 24th Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team) at Ft. Lewis, Washington. PFC Thompson was killed Aug. 4, 2005, one day after his 19th birthday, when he was struck by enemy sniper fire while on patrol in Mosul, Iraq. His mother, Frances Thompson of Confluence, will receive the flag.

During the observance, the Somerset County Honor Guard and Rifle Squad will present the colors and perform a 21-gun salute following the traditional wreath-laying ceremony. The Rev. Douglas Burns of Milford United Methodist Church of Somerset will offer the invocation and benediction. The Somerset Area High School Band, the Somerset Community Band, and the Somerset Area High School Choral Ensemble will perform patriotic musical and vocal selections.

Somerset Troop 131, Cub Scout Pack 131, and Friedens Troop 152 of the Boy Scouts of America will raise the colors and conduct the flag-folding ceremony and presentation. Somerset Girl Scout Troop 52906 will assist with program distribution and participate in the ceremony. The Somerset Memorial Day Parade will commence immediately at the ceremony’s conclusion.

Salisbury

The Salisbury VFW Post 8826 Memorial Day parade is at 10 a.m. May 27. Line up at 9:30 a.m. on Union Street. In case of rain, the program will be held at the high school. Lunch is available at the VFW and Legion.

Meyersdale

The American Legion Post 112 will observe Memorial Day, May 27. Parade line-up will be at 8:30 a.m. at the old State Theater on Broadway. Step off at 8:45 a.m. Service will begin at 9 a.m. at the Dough Boy Monument. The guest speaker is John Imhoff of Meyersdale.

Union Cemetery, New Centerville

Vicar Josh Spangler will be the guest speaker at the annual Memorial Day Service at 11 a.m. May 27, in the Union Cemetery, New Centerville. Danny Conner will be the guest soloist. The welcome will be given by Frank Illar of New Centerville. For many years Illar has been placing the American flags on the graves in the cemetery. The gun salute will be given by the American Legion Post 279. The color guard will be from the Sons of the Union Veterans.

In case of rain, the service will be moved to the New Centerville Church of God.

The service is sponsored, in part, by the Mount Union Church Camp 502 Auxiliary and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and Rockwood American Legion Post 279.

Lambertsville

The 156th consecutive Memorial Day Service will be held at 2:30 p.m. May 27, in the Lambertsville Cemetery. The guest speaker is retired Sgt. Maj. Neil Hoffman of Somerset. His 38 years of Army service included deployments with Stabilization Force 12 Bosnia and Task Force Dragoon in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom III.

McKenzie Rankin will recite “In Flanders Field” and Blake Dean will recite “The Gettysburg Address.” Both are recipients of the eighth-grade American Legion Award.

The service will include music by the Shanksville-Stonycreek Band under the direction of Dawn Fassnacht. The Honor Guard from the Stonycreek Valley American Legion Post 911 will provide graveside rites. Taps will be played by Matthew Miller.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: What's going on this Memorial Day? Here's what we know