Military sacrifices remembered on Memorial Day across the Alle-Kiski Valley

Memorial Day is always a solemn occasion for Diane Baker of New Kensington.

Baker was on hand to lay a wreath in honor of disabled American veterans Monday at Roosevelt Park in Arnold. She said Memorial Day, for some, has lost a bit of its meaning.

“Some people get carried away and think it’s a picnic day,” Baker said. “It’s called memorial, and we have to remember the men and women that came before us and made our country free.”

About a dozen people gathered in Roosevelt Park early Monday morning for a prayer and laying of five wreaths placed for the departed veterans of all wars. The service was sponsored by the Joint Veterans Committee of New Kensington and Arnold.

The New Kensington/Arnold parade was canceled this year because of the pandemic.

Betsy Bianco of Brackenridge had the honor of throwing a wreath into the Allegheny River during a service held on First Avenue. The event was organized by Brackenridge American Legion Post 226.

“I do this in honor of my father, James W. McCartney, who served 30 years in the Navy,” Bianco said.

The service was attended by more than 100 guests and featured numerous speakers, several prayers, a rifle salute and flag ceremony and concluded with a military flyover.

Dean Walker, a Vietnam veteran, said it was great to return after last year’s cancellation because of the pandemic.

“It’s very special, and there’s a nice turnout,” Walker said. “We’re here to salute our fallen comrades in the line of duty.”

Hundreds of people lined Freeport Road in Lower Burrell for the annual Memorial Day parade that featured more than 50 fire company trucks and about 40 to 50 marching military members.

“It’s a good feeling,” said parade staff/co-organizer Louis Abate. “This year is bigger than ever.”

The 1.1-mile parade route began at City Hall and went along Schreiber Street, Leechburg Road and concluded at the American Legion on Wildlife Lodge Road.

Lower Burrell native Nita Serene attended with her husband, Jim. She held a hand-stenciled sign with the words “Never Forgotten.”

“I never miss a parade. This is the least we can do to honor our veterans,” she said.

Dennis Sopchack, 70, of New Kensington attended the Memorial Day service at the Gold Star Mother Memorial on Ninth Street dressed in an American Revolutionary military uniform, including a replica French Charleville Model 1763 Musket.

Although Sopchack said he failed his Army draft physical and never served his country, he became a reenactor in 2002.

“They (American Revolutionary War soldiers) had to create our liberty and freedoms,” he said, “and the others have preserved it.”