BEAVER, PA – This year’s Memorial Day parade in Beaver, sponsored by the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation, will for the first time feature representatives of the Tuskegee Airmen.
They are Colonel George Charlton whose uncle, Charles Peters, in 1910, strapped himself and a modified auto engine into a self-designed canvas structured airframe and made 10 media documented flights over the Pittsburgh area, becoming the father of African-American Aviation; Master Sgt. Timothy McCoy, served with the all-black 99 th Pursuit Sqn., Selfridge, Michigan; Mrs. Terry Bradford, President of the Daniel Matthews Historical Society, Sewickley, responsible for documenting the western PA Tuskegee Airmen, now numbering 82; Colonel Edmund Effort, USAF (Retired), President and co-founder of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen. Also participating is Regis Bobonis, Vice President of the Daniel Matthews Historical Society and principal investigator in locating the western PA Tuskegee Airmen.
The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, May 30, 2011, in Beaver, starting at Third and Beaver Streets. The parade will proceed along Third Street to the Beaver Cemetery’s Receiving Vault and Chapel where a formal ceremony will take place honoring military veterans. The parade will feature local veterans, Beaver Area High School Band and JROTC, including its Fife and Drum Corps, and members of the famed World War II Tuskegee Airmen. Two re-enactor groups, the Revolutionary War era Fort McIntosh Garrison and Civil War era 63 rd PA regiment will also march. The parade will also feature local fire departments, antique automobiles, Beaver County Outstanding Young Woman, Beaver Area Education Foundation winners, local Scout troops and area Little League baseball teams. Children are invited to ride their decorated bikes in the annual contest sponsored by Snitger’s Bike Shop.
Dr. David B. Wallover, Senior Pastor, Harvest Presbyterian Church (PCA), Medina, Ohio will be keynote speaker. David is the son of James I. (Zack) Wallover, a decorated US Marine who served in the Pacific Theater in World War II. The ceremony will be presided over by Col. Carl C. Neely (ret’d), Vice President of the Beaver Area Heritage Foundation. The Beaver Area JROTC, Fife and Drum Corps, BASH Band and Concert Choir will also participate. Beaver Area Senior Class President, Ian Graham, will recite the Gettysburg Address. Twenty-seven American Flags will be placed in front of the speakers’ dais commemorating the 2700 veterans interred in the cemetery. A memorial salute featuring veterans and re-enactors of four centuries will conclude the ceremony. (In case of rain, the ceremony will take place in the First Presbyterian Church, College Avenue, beginning at 11:00 a.m.)
All veterans are invited to march or ride in the parade. Please telephone 724-728-3783 for additional information, or see www.beaverheritage.org .
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