Memorial Day parades, services in the area
Here's a rundown of some of the Memorial Day events in Richland, Ashland and Crawford counties:
Richland County Memorial Day parades, events:
The Mansfield Memorial Day Parade is 10:30 a.m. Monday and begins at the 5-way intersection of Park Avenue West and Marion Avenue, and continues east on Park Avenue to the gazebo in Central Park on the downtown square. There is a memorial service at the gazebo immediately following the parade with speaker Doug Theaker, a Korean War veteran.
Placing of flags in Mansfield Cemetery
The public is invited to help honor veterans by placing a flag on their grave at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 27, at Mansfield Cemetery, 389 Altamont Ave. Look for the Richland County Veteran Services van and trailer at the Veterans Honor Grounds to pick up flags. Starting here avoids traffic congestion at the front gate.
Avenue of the Flags observance in Ontario
The annual Avenue of Flags Ceremony sponsored by the VFW Post 9943 Auxiliary will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mansfield Memorial Park, 2507 Park Avenue West in Ontario. Speaker is U.S. Army veteran Ken Estep, who is director of the Richland County Veteran Service Commission.
More than 200 flags have been donated. Five new flags will be presented honoring the following: Joseph J. Bapka - U.S. Army; Richard L. Geog - U.S. Army; Gene A. Hartland - U.S. Navy; Robert G. Keller - U.S. Marines; and Raymond T. Shaum Jr. - U.S. Marines.
Bellville Memorial Day Parade
Bellville Memorial Day Parade will line up at the corner of Bell and Ogle streets at 10:30 a.m. Monday with the parade starting at 11 a.m. The parade is sponsored by the American Legion Post 535. No preregistration required and no political entries permitted. There will be a Memorial Day service in the cemetery following the parade.
Butler Memorial Day Parade
The Butler Memorial Day Parade kicks off at 9 a.m. on College Street; parade lineup is at 8 a.m. and the ceremony honoring veterans following the parade will be at Memorial Park.
Lexington Memorial Day Parade
The Lexington Memorial Day Parade will kick off at Lexington High School at 10 a.m. Monday and travel onto Delaware Street to Main Street to the Lexington Cemetery where there will be a service.
Plymouth Memorial Day Parade
The Plymouth Memorial Day Parade will kick off at 10:30 a.m. near the village hall at 48 W. Broadway St. with a service to honor veterans to follow at Greenlawn Cemetery.
Shelby Memorial Day Parade
The Shelby Memorial Day Parade will kick off at 10 a.m. Monday at The Boulevards. A Memorial Day service will be held at 11 a.m. in Oakland Cemetery.
Shiloh Memorial Day Service to Honor veterans
The Shiloh Memorial Day Service will be at 8:15 a.m. Monday at Mt. Hope Cemetery on Noble Road West at Shiloh-Norwalk Road. There is no parade.
Picking up flags at Mansfield Cemetery
Anyone wanting to volunteer to help pick up flags in Mansfield Cemetery may do so at 10 a.m. June 10. There will be two locations to drop off flags: at the Veterans Honor Grounds and by the Vasbinder Monument near the Old Soldiers Ground. All volunteers are welcome.
Crawford County Memorial Day parade, events
Memorial Day will be observed on Monday. Weather permitting, the day will begin with a parade forming at Washington Square at 9 a.m. The parade will step off at 9:30 a.m. and head toward Oakwood Cemetery where the program will begin at 10 a.m. at the Lemert Memorial unless the ground is too wet, then it will be moved to the columbarium at the northeast corner of the cemetery property.
If it is raining Monday morning, the parade will be canceled and the program will be moved to Bucyrus Elementary School, 245 Woodlawn Ave.
The parade marshal this year will be WW II veteran Harold Eppley.
Epply was born in 1925, the second son of Chester and Grace Heiber Eppley in Seneca County. The family moved to Heiber Road in Crawford County when Harold was 5 years old. Harold enjoyed the agriculture classes at Homes Liberty and graduated in 1943 during the height of World War II. In 1945 he was drafted by the U.S. Army, but was declined due to a heart murmur.
Later that year he was called back and sent to Ft. Knox, Kentucky for basic training. From there he went to California, before being shipped out to the Philippines. While on the ship they received news that Japan had surrendered, however they still found themselves under sniper fire from the mountains, even after the surrender. He was sent home just before Christmas for a furlough, and then was sent to Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania where he was scheduled to deploy to Europe before an appendicitis changed those orders.
He was sent to Ft. Mead, Maryland and finally to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky where he worked many jobs until his discharge in November 1946. In 1948 Harold married Faythe Yaussy and began farming. In 1982 they bought Faythe’s father Austin Yaussy’s insurance agency, which they operated until the mid-90s. Harold and Faythe had enjoyed many years of square dancing and church activities with Howard and Martha Yaussy. Several years after they both had lost their spouses, Harold and Martha decided that they missed square dances and they married in 2003. Harold has served our community in several capacities over the years through various boards and organizations.
Assistant parade marshals are all current and honorably discharged veterans.
This year’s master of ceremonies will be Robert “Bob” Laipply, Jr. Bob is an Army veteran serving from 1968-1970, stationed at Fort Clayton’s Corozal Area, in the U.S. Panama Canal Zone. As an Airborne Infantryman, Bob’s assigned duties were as a military policeman serving Tropical Test Site and staffing security patrols for the Southern Command Headquarters. Bob achieved the rank of Sergeant E-5 before being honorably discharged from active duty in May of 1970.
He is a retired teacher from the Bucyrus City School system. Bob and his wife Sandy (McGraw) both graduated from Bucyrus High School, as did their three children, Jason, Jennifer and Judson. They have three grown grandchildren, Beth and Carly Graham and Ryan Hawkins.
Father Paul Fahrbach Holy Trinity Church will give the invocation and benediction.
This year’s keynote speaker is Richard Eugene Johnson, a 1964 graduate from Wynford High School. Because of his interest in the sciences of mechanical and electrical equipment he went into the Army Security Agency right out of high school. He served 9 months in telecommunications training at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, then 18 months in Ethiopia and 18 months in California to complete the four-year enlistment.
He received a bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering at DeVry University. He spent the next several years working in that field before returning to the Keller Graduate School of Management at DeVry University, where he earned a business master’s degree. On a part-time and weekend basis, he has spent 34 years in emergency medical services and as volunteer fireman, and is a nationally registered paramedic. For 25 years he has been an instructor with the American Heart Association as a BLS/Heart Saver Instructor in First Aid, CPR-AED classes.
The Bucyrus High School Marching Band will play the National Anthem. General John A. Logan's General Order No. 11, designating May 30 as the day to remember our nation’s war dead, will be read by Bucyrus High School graduate Ethan Huff. Fellow BHS graduate Madalyn Kimmel will recite President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
The Bucyrus Middle School Marching Band will play "Hail Columbia." The Salute to the Dead will be presented by the Bucyrus Veterans Honor Guard, followed by the playing of "Taps" by Jayda Pickens, and "The Echo" by Jenna Ashley.
The program will be broadcast later in the day on Facebook Iconic Rock Q92.7 WQEL
Any veteran who would like to be in the parade is welcome to participate. Members of Moose Lodge 669 will have vehicles available to drive those veterans in need. Area Scout troops are invited to participate in the parade. Those interested should meet at Washington Square at 9 a.m.
This week members of the Veterans Memorial Society have placed more than 3,500 flags on the graves of veterans in Bucyrus and surrounding township cemeteries.
The Veterans Memorial Society is a group of honorably discharged veterans from all wars and peace time. They meet three to four times a year to prepare for the Memorial Day Services and place flags on the graves of area veterans in observance of Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
Remember to fly your flag every day if possible, but especially on holidays. Remember also that the proper way to display the flag on Memorial Day is to fly it at half-staff until noon and then back to full-staff after noon.
American Legion Post 181, 123 E. Rensselaer St., Bucyrus, will have a hog roast after the services from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. This meal is free to all honorably discharged and active duty veterans, though family and friends may join for a freewill donation.
Ashland Memorial Day Parade
The speaker for the city's Memorial Day service at Ashland Cemetery will be a retired National Guard colonel from Somerville.
Christopher E. Killer joined the Guard in 1985, and upon completing Officer Candidate School, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1989. He returned to active duty August 1994 as a captain in the U.S. Army Veterinary Corps. He retired at the end of September 2022 after 37 years of service that includes deployments during Operations Desert Shield/Storm, Joint Guard/Forge and Enduring Freedom, according to the Ashland Times-Gazette.
Master of Ceremonies at the May 29 service will be E. Wayne Risner and vocalist will be Melanie Miller, singing the national anthem and "God Bless America." Chaplain will be Jerry Shearer. Flower representatives from the area veterans organizations will place bouquets of flowers at the monument during the service.
The parade will kick off at 10 a.m. and proceed down Union Street to Main Street and disband at Ashland Cemetery. Parade lineup begins at 9 a.m. on Fourth Street.
Parade marshals will be the Ashland Veterans Honor Guard, which is composed of volunteers from the veteran organizations in Ashland.
They participate in parades, events and ceremonies. The most common service they provide is at funerals of fellow veterans, where they perform and fold and present an American flag to the next of kin, perform a 21-gun salute and play taps. They will be honored during the service at Ashland Cemetery.
The entry process for the parade is open for residents, churches, businesses and organizations that would like to participate. Every person/group in the parade should focus on patriotism.
lwhitmir@gannett.com
419-521-7223
Twitter: @LWhitmir
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Memorial Day parades, services in the area
