By TED POTTS
JOHNSTOWN — Wednesday will mark the 13th consecutive year that downtown Johnstown’s Veterans Day Parade will be organized by the Conemaugh Valley Veterans.
Ed Wojnaroski Sr. is the group’s chairman.
The parade will begin at 4 p.m. at Main and Union streets and proceed up Main Street to Clinton Street, where it will disband. There will be a program in Central Park that will begin about 10 minutes after the conclusion of the parade, said Martin J. Kuhar, a member of Conemaugh Valley Veterans and parade coordinator.
The speaker will be Timothy Birtle of Flinton, commander of the Pennsylvania Disabled American Veterans.
The parade and program are paying special tribute this year to disabled veterans.
Jill and Leah Gontkovic, who are sisters, will sing the national anthem and “God Bless America” at the park program. Members of Conemaugh Valley Detachment of the Marine Corps League will raise and lower the flag and play taps. Kuhar will be master of ceremonies.
Tom Caulfield of Conemaugh Valley Veterans said a Cambria County Transit Authority bus will be available to provide transportation for disabled veterans wanting to ride in the parade. Those wanting to ride the bus should go to American Legion Post 294 at 114 Main St. prior to the start of the parade, Caulfield said. Disabled veterans also are invited to walk in the parade.
The parade lineup includes 10 school bands, the most since Conemaugh Valley Veterans began sponsoring the parade, Wojnaroski said.
The bands are from Bishop McCort, Blacklick Valley, Conemaugh Township, Conemaugh Valley, Ferndale, Forest Hills, Greater Johnstown High School, Greater Johnstown Middle School, Richland and Westmont Hilltop.
The parade also will feature military units and vehicles, floats and veterans organizations.
There will be a flyover at 4:10 p.m. by the 1/104th Aviation, Pennsylvania Army National Guard.
Harry Plows, an Army veteran of World War II, is the parade’s permanent honorary marshal.
A reviewing stand will be set up on Main Street by the park.
Tony Perry, an Army veteran of the Korean War, will announce the parade participants as they pass in front of the stand.
Here is a list of other Veterans Day activities as presented to The Tribune-Democrat:
• A program will be held at 2 p.m. today at Laurel Crest in Ebensburg.
Organized by Frank Brosius, Laurel Crest’s pastoral care clergyman, the speaker will be Martin J. Kuhar, a retired Army lieutenant colonel.
Robert Isaacson of Twin Rocks, who was a bugler in the Army, will play the bugle.
Each veteran residing at the home will receive a flag and a yellow rose, Brosius said. There are about 40 veterans at the home, he said.
All of the home’s residents will attend the program, which will be held in the dining room on the second floor, Brosius said.
He said members of the public are welcome.
• Beginning at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Sgt. Michael Strank Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Conemaugh and Park Hill American Legions will honor veterans at Veterans Day programs at the following sites: Bon Air Memorial Park, Park Hill Legion, Conemaugh Legion, Franklin fire hall and the Strank VFW.
• Cub Scout Pack 25 will honor veterans by serving coffee and doughnuts to them from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday at Geistown fire hall, 631 Lamberd Ave. All veterans are welcome, a pack spokesman said.
• A monument to veterans from East Taylor Township – both living and deceased – will be unveiled and dedicated at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the township municipal building at 2402 William Penn Ave.
There are about 80 names listed on the monument, said Shannan Kister, township secretary.
She said plans for the monument have been under way for about a year.
• The Pastoral Care Department at Johnstown’s Memorial Medical Center will host a Veterans Day celebration at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the medical center’s atrium.
Guest speaker will be Tom Caulfield, regional director of the Veterans Leadership Program at 727 Goucher St.
The celebration will honor and remember all those now serving in the armed forces as well as the region’s many veterans, said Francine Bodnar, media/special events coordinator for Conemaugh Health System.
She said there will be information available about the Combat Stress Intervention Program, a collaborative program between Conemaugh Health System and Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, Washington County. CSIP is designed to help reduce barriers that may separate veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from receiving combat stress or general behavioral health services.
• Patrick D. Riordan Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1586, Hastings, will hold Veterans Day activities Wednesday.
Veterans will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the post home on Beaver Street for a short parade to St. Bernard’s Roman Catholic Church for a Mass at 10 a.m. A service will be held at 11 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial.
A luncheon for participants prepared by the Post 1586 auxiliary will be held after the memorial service.
n Country Manor Living, Jerome, will honor its veterans with a program at 2 p.m. Friday. The manor’s military veterans will receive special honors during the program, which will include singing and a trumpeter, said activities director Debbie Lester.
• Richard W. Watson American Legion Post 141, Indiana, will sponsor the annual Veterans Day parade Wednesday in the borough’s downtown.
The parade will form on Philadelphia Street between Fourth and Fifth streets, with participating units in line by 10:30 a.m., moving out at
10:50 a.m., said Christopher G. Kough, post adjutant. The parade will move west on Philadelphia Street to Ninth Street, where it will disband.
• Jackson Township Senior Center will hold its seventh annual Veterans Day ceremony at 11 am. Wednesday. The center is at 200 Adams Ave.
Principal speaker will be Blaze McCombie, an Army Reserve captain who has served in Iraq.
The honor guard of Johns-town Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 155 will raise and lower the flag. The Rev. Drew Walther, pastor of Singer Hill Grace Brethren Church, will ask the invocation and pronounce the benediction.
Corey Shirk, a senior at Central Cambria High School at Ebensburg and a township resident, will sing the national anthem, “God Bless America” and “American Tears.”
Jackson Township Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts will lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
Frank J. Singel, senior center president, will make welcoming and closing remarks.
The township’s veterans monument – dedicated in 2005 – includes the names of 1,084 veterans, Singel said.
• Windber Area Veterans Organization will hold a parade and program Wednesday.
The parade will form at 9:30 a.m. at American Legion Post 137 on 14th Street. It will begin at 10 a.m. and move to 18th Street, to Somerset Avenue, to 13th Street, to Graham Avenue, to 14th Street and to Jefferson Avenue Extension, where it will conclude at Veterans Park. A service will begin at approximately 11 a.m. at the park.
Principal speaker will be Dale E. Hill of Northern Cambria, a retired Army sergeant major.
Father Adrian Tirpak, TOR, of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Windber, will ask the invocation and pronounce the benediction.
Mayor Art Palumbo will offer greetings to program attendees.
Placing of the wreath will be by Perry Mock, commander of Windber Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4795, and by Nick Pascovich, Post 137 commander.
Tom Geiger, veterans organization chairman, will discuss plans for a wall that will be built at Veterans Park that will honor veterans from communities in Windber Area School District who were killed in action or designated as prisoners of war or missing in action in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The association is asking Windber area businesses and residents for contributions to help construct the wall – estimated to cost $14,000, Geiger said. Residents are being asked to supply names of veterans who should be included on the wall.
To provide information about veterans or to contribute, residents should get in touch with Geiger at 413 Fifth St. or call him at 467-4303.
The wall is anticipated to be constructed by Memorial Day, Geiger said.
Master of ceremonies Wednesday will be Gene Shaffer, a member of both the Windber VFW and Legion.
Members of the Marines will raise the flag. Windber Area High School band will play the national anthem, taps and other musical selections.
The rifle salute will be by the VFW’s ritual team.
