Canton community reflects on the fallen at annual Memorial Day parade

Editor's note: This story has been updated to fix an error. See correction below.

CANTON – Dewey Miller values Memorial Day as a time to remember veterans who sometimes are forgotten.

So as the 76-year-old Vietnam veteran rode a motorcycle in Canton's annual Memorial Day parade on Monday, he recalled the underappreciated role of women who participated in the war.

"There's a lot of women who didn't make it back and I think they sometimes get left out," Miller said. "I hope today people can remember them."

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The parade, which traveled 1.2 miles from McKinley Early College High School to the McKinley National Memorial, featured veterans, active military, floats, bands, trucks and motorcycles. The annual event remembers those who died while performing military service and highlights veterans and veteran organizations providing support in the community.

As the parade began, a message printed in bold font across the side of a float captured the essence of the holiday: "All give some, some give all. Freedom isn't free, thank a vet!"

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While the Memorial Day holiday serves to remember fallen veterans, many groups came to show their support for current and retired veterans. One such group in attendance was Emerald Pine Grief and Trauma Services , a mental health organization owned by married veterans and Canton natives Amy and Michael Hallett.

Amy Hallett, 59, said veteran deaths by suicide are on the rise and need brought to attention. She also cited the recent death by suicide of Canton firefighter Jared Kneale as a reason for wanting to come out and show support.

She returned to Canton in 2017 and worked with Veterans Affairs until she retired. Emerald Pine is her retirement job, she said. Emerald Pine has been open for two years, but this was the group's first time participating in the parade.

"We came out because we wanted to make ourselves known as an available mental health service to veterans in the community," Amy Hallett said. "Plenty of first responders are also veterans and many suffer trauma. It's near and dear to my heart and we wanted to let them know we're here for them."

The latest National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report , which includes available death statistics ranging from 2000 to 2021, indicated an uptick in veteran deaths by suicide in recent years. In 2021, 6,392 veterans died by suicide, an increase of 114 over 2020 statistics, according to the report.

CORRECTION : The McKinley High School Jr. Army ROTC, under the direction of Lt. Col. Eric Nagy, marched in the Memorial Day parade. The unit was misidentified in a photo when this story first published. 5:20 p.m. May 28.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton community reflects on the fallen at annual Memorial Day parade