Memorial Day observances planned in Westmoreland area communities

These Memorial Day observances are planned:

Hecla

The Veterans of Hecla Honor Roll will host a service at 10:15 a.m. Monday in Porterfield Hall at Community Church of Hecla, 537 Hecla Road, Mt. Pleasant Township. Refreshments will be served.

Hempfield

The annual remembrance ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Westmoreland County Memorial Park, 150 Eastside Drive.

The event will honor veterans and will include a roll call for those interred at the park from May 2023 through April 2024.

Irwin-Manor-North Huntingdon

The Honor Guard of the Carl LeRoy McKelvey American Legion Post 472 of Manor in association with the Norwin Historical Society will conduct ceremonies at four locations on Sunday.

• 11:30 a.m. at Brush Creek Cemetery, Irwin-Manor Road, Hempfield

• 1 p.m. at Penn Lincoln Memorial Park, Route 30, North Huntingdon

• 2 p.m. at The Brush Creek Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Leger Road, North Huntingdon

• 3 p.m. at the Manor Memorial Garden, intersection of Race and McKelvey streets, Manor

A 21-gun salute will be conducted and taps will be played at each service.

Irwin-North Huntingdon

The J. Howard Snyder Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 781 in North Huntingdon will hold services at monuments and cemeteries in the Norwin area on Monday.

• 7 a.m. at Irwin Veterans Memorial, intersection of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue

• 7:30 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church Cemetery, Pennsylvania Avenue and Bridge Street, Irwin

• 7:45 a.m. at North Irwin Veterans Memorial, First and Station streets

• 8 a.m. at the Air Force Staff Sgt. David Weiger Memorial at Oak Hollow Park, off Morris Avenue, North Huntingdon

• 8:25 a.m. Long Run Cemetery, Lincoln Way, Circleville

VFW Post Commander Kory Bulloch said that the chaplain will offer remarks and taps will be placed at each of the ceremonies for the fallen military veterans. The VFW Post honor guard will provide a 21-gun salute.

The annual parade will start at 10 a.m. at Main and Second streets in downtown Irwin and continue to Pennsylvania Avenue, stopping at the Irwin Union Cemetery off Pennsylvania Avenue. U.S. Army Major Eric Gass, a North Huntingdon commissioner, is scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

Jeannette-Penn Township

The cemetery crawl and ceremony will start at 9 a.m. Monday at Jeannette City Hall.

Members of the Jeannette Combined Veterans Honor Guard will travel by caravan to Sacred Heart Cemetery in Hempfield; the 1836 burial place of Revolutionary War soldier Henry Allshouse in a Jeannette alley; and Jeannette Catholic & SS. Cyril & Methodius cemeteries near Grandview Fire Department in Penn Township. Those stops will include a prayer, gun salute (except at the Revolutionary grave) and the playing of taps.

The caravan will end with an 11 a.m. ceremony at Jeannette Memorial Park in Penn Township. The honor guard includes veterans from the Jeannette American Legion and Veteran of Foreign Wars posts.

Latrobe

A parade sponsored by the Latrobe VFW and American Legion posts will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Clair and Ligonier streets. Parade units will follow Ligonier, Weldon and Jefferson streets, ending at Memorial Plaza on Memorial Drive, where a ceremony will be held.

The featured speaker will be Robert Derk, sergeant and K-9 handler with the Latrobe Police Department. An Army National Guard veteran, he was stationed at Camp Darby, Italy, in 2002, conducting force protection and installation security operations during Operation Enduring Freedom.

In addition to local veterans, parade participants will include Scouting groups, the Marine Corps League Rolling Rock Detachment Color Guard, Latrobe firefighters and participants in the Latrobe 4th of July Celebration pageant.

Ligonier

The borough’s annual service will take place at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the central Diamond Park.

Mt. Pleasant

A parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. Monday near the Mt. Pleasant American Legion post, 752 W. Main St. Units, including representatives from the local Legion and VFW posts, will march east on Main to Veterans’ Park.

A ceremony at the park’s Veterans Wall will include the Mt. Pleasant Area High School Band and a combined Legion and VFW honor guard.

Borough officials will recognize a Pittsburgh artist and veteran who is painting a mural on the back of the granite Veterans Wall.

Scottdale

A parade, sponsored by Scottdale Community Civic and Industrial Association Inc., will begin at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the intersection of Broadway and Pittsburgh Streets.

Broadway Street will close at 9 a.m. and the parade will proceed to St. John the Baptist Cemetery.

Stoystown, Somerset County

U.S. Army veteran State Sen. Delvin Robinson, (R-Bridgeville) will give the keynote address at a ceremony at 7 p.m. Sunday at Patriot Park along Route 30, west of the Flight 93 National Memorial entrance.

Patriot Park, inside the northern boundary of the Flight 93 National Memorial, is dedicated to those military members who have served their nation in the global war on terror that began in the aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. There will be more than 7,000 flags planted in memory of those who lost their lives in that battle.

The Patriot Park Foundation operates Patriot Park.

Trafford

A parade begins at 10:30 a.m. Monday at the American Legion Post 331, 216 Cavitt Ave., and proceeds to the Trafford Veterans Memorial Park at Edgewood Avenue and Fifth Street.

A program will be held at 11:30 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park.

Unity

The Latrobe VFW post and auxiliary and Unity American Legion Post 982, along with district VFW auxiliary and Sons of Legion organizations, will conduct their 138th annual service at 3 p.m. on Sunday in Unity Chapel at Unity Cemetery, 114 Chapel Lane.

The service will include the reading of names of Latrobe area veterans who have died from May 2023 through April 2024. In addition to the national anthem, selections will include “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America.”

Youngstown-Whitney VFD

Services will be held Monday at the Baggaley Honor Roll at 9 a.m. and in Youngstown at Brody Park at 10 a.m.

Pastor Kirt Conroy of the Latrobe Alliance Church will lead the services. Firefighters from Youngstown-Whitney Volunteer Fire Department will place memorial wreaths and taps will be played by Rob Porembka and Mike Skapura.