Pictured, is the Tioga County Veterans Memorial. Bill Chandler, president of Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 480, recently cleaned up the Memorial.
Eric Holt of Owego’s Village Public Works Department washes the base and lower statues of the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial.
American flags honor Tioga County’s Fallen Heroes on the Court Street Bridge 24/7.
For the ninth year in a row, and on May 19, Apalachin Girl Scout Troops 30425 and 30919 placed flags on veteran graves in Riverside Cemetery-Apalachin at a “Flags In” ceremony. Pictured, from left, are Senior Miranda Werner, Leader Jennifer Werner in her 11th year, Cadette Sophia Werner and Senior Teresa Deskur. The Scout Troop is pictured in front of the grave of William A. Arnold, 1st Lt. US Army Air Force, WWII, and recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal and four Oak Leaf Clusters. This was just one of many flags they placed. Riverside Cemetery-Apalachin is the final resting place for many veterans from the Revolutionary War to present day.
Boy Scout Troop 30, from Newark Valley, places flags at the Hope Cemetery in Newark Valley and Evergreen Cemetery in Berkshire.
Boy Scout Troop 30, from Newark Valley, places flags at the Hope Cemetery in Newark Valley and Evergreen Cemetery in Berkshire.
Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while in active military service. American flags are at half-staff until noon. All churches remember their fallen heroes and veterans at Sunday services.
Here is the Memorial Day Monday, May 30, 2016 timeline for Owego / Tioga County. Community organizations and veterans invited to parade and attend park ceremony.
From dawn to noon, flags at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial are at half-staff to Honor War Dead and then full-staff at noon to honor living veterans.
From 8 to 10:15 a.m., the 48th annual reading of the honored names of 5,000 deceased Tioga County Veterans will take place at the Veterans Memorial. At 10:15 a.m., there will be a Tribute to Our Fallen Heroes.
At 9 a.m., there will be a Memorial Day Mass by Father Peter Van Lieshout in St. Patrick’s Church (not cemetery). Also, at 8:30 a.m. there will be a Mass by Father Thomas Valenti in St. James Church in Waverly.
At 10 a.m., the annual parade organizes on Temple Street by the Owego Police Station and First Presbyterian Union Church. All community organizations, school children, youth sports teams and veterans are invited. For those participating, report to the Parade Marshall, John Hitchings.
At 10:30 a.m., the parade marches from the police station and then south on North Avenue, east on Main Street past the VFW, south on Paige Street, west on Front Street past the American Legion to the south lawn of the Tioga County Courthouse.
At 11 a.m., a Service of Remembrance will take place at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial. There will be a Presentation of Colors by the Honor Guard of Glenn A. Warner Post 1371, Veterans of Foreign Wars and General John Logan’s Memorial Day General Order to decorate graves.
The Owego Free Academy (OFA) marching band will perform the National Anthem, and Father Peter Van Lieshout will deliver the Invocation and later Benediction.
The Boy Scouts of Troop 60 will read the names of 170 Tioga County Fallen Heroes as Owego Elementary School Students place their remembrance flag in a patriotic red, white, and blue basket.
There will be a Wreath Laying at the WWI, WWII, Tioga County, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq / Afghanistan Memorials. Special anniversaries will be commemorated to include the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor with Survivor Bill Kennedy, Parade Marshall; the 74th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway, June 1942; the 72nd Anniversary of D-Day; the 71st Anniversary of V-E Day (Victory in Europe); and VJ-Day (Victory over Japan).
Also, the 66th Anniversary of the June 25 Invasion of South Korea will be commemorated along with the 56th Anniversary of first Combat Troops in South Vietnam, the 51st Anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War, the 40th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, the 25th Anniversary of the Invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2, 1960, and the 25th Anniversary of the Gulf War.
There will be a “Salute to America’s Finest” by the OFA marching band, and a Roll Call of deceased Tioga County veterans since Memorial Day 2015.
It is the 125th Anniversary of the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial, and remarks by the 137th Voluntary Infantry Adjutant Ben Gardner and Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War President Bonnie Baker Duff will be given. Historian Jerry Marsh will
One of five Armed Forces Flags – U.S. Marine Corps Garden Flag outside Becky’s Diner in Waverly.
remember the 500 Tioga County soldiers lost in the Civil War. A Rifle Salute by the 137th will honor their memory.
Moving to the west side of the Court Street Bridge, a wreath will be cast into the Susquehanna River to remember Navy members Buried at Sea. This will be accompanied by a Rifle Salute by the VFW Post 1371 Honor Guard, and then followed by Taps by an OFA Bugler.
Bridge Flags
American Flags honoring the sacrifices and service of Tioga County’s Fallen Heroes greet motorists 24-7 on the Court Street Bridge.
Veterans thank the Village of Owego Public Works Department team for posting the flags.
Veterans also thank Orville and Carolyn Wright for their generous donation for the bridge flags and memorial wreaths at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial.
A Marine Corps garden flag looking up towards the “God Bless Our Veterans” painting on the building at Becky’s Diner in downtown Waverly.
Union/TCVM Memorials
In the Courthouse Square, Village of Owego employees for its 125th Anniversary cleaned the base and lower portion of the Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial.
Bill Chandler, president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 480, washed the eight memorials at the Tioga County Veterans Memorial on Tuesday. Thanks are extended to Bill Chandler for his dedication to these memorials.
“Flags In”
Veterans also thank “Flags In” volunteers including veterans and Boy Scout Troops, Apalachin Girl Scouts, the Youth Group of St. Patrick’s and St. Margaret Mary’s Churches for flag placement in St. Patrick’s Cemetery.
Owego Boy Scout Troop 60 helped place flags in the Historic Evergreen Cemetery with the Men’s Auxiliary of the VFW Post 1371. Scout Troop 38 participated with Vietnam Veterans in the Tioga Cemetery and Newark Valley Boy Scout Troop 30 placed flags from Flemingville to Richford.
Special thanks to Tioga Post 401 American Legion Adjutant Tom Simons. He coordinated the procurement, distribution and flag placement by his teams in Owego area cemeteries.
The Tioga County Civil War Union Memorial is ready for its 125th Anniversary.
Continuing thanks to Chet and Anita Harding of Project Homecoming. In their 10th milestone year, they’re placements will surpass 500 wreaths and flag holders. This year they placed 50 flags, memorial wreaths, and flag holders on graves of different veterans from all wars buried in cemeteries throughout Tioga County.
Erwin Flohr of Helmond, Netherlands, visits the graves of four Tioga County Fallen Heroes in Netherlands American Cemetery where there are 8,301 graves and 1,722 graves of service members who were missing in action. Buried in Margraten are Army Sgt. Richard Hoyt of Candor, Army Pvt. Walter R. Magee of Lounsberry, Army Pfc. Glenn A. Warner of Owego and Pfc. Edward Whalen of Straits Corners.
Then he will go to Henri-Chappel Cemetery in Belgium to honor the graves of Army 2nd Lt. Albert C. Church of Nichols and Army Pfc. James LaDue of Waverly.
At Dartmore Park, England, Pat and Bern Trout will climb a 1,800-foot hillside to place seven flags at a memorial where B-25 crashed on Christmas Day in 1943. Among the victims are Owego Army Air Force Staff Sergeant Mario A. “Bucket” Panetti.
Pictured, is the “Battlefield Cross” or “Fallen Soldiers Cross” – the Tioga County Civil War Medal of Honor.
Tioga County Fallen Heroes are also buried in American Cemeteries in Ardennes, Belgium, Lorraine in France, Luxemburg, Cambridge, Punchbowl in Honolulu, Hawaii, Tablets of the Missing at Honolulu Memorial, Manila American Cemetery and in Denmark at a Memorial erected by Danish Navy Veterans.
Garden Flags in Waverly
Becky’s Diner, on the corner of Broad and Fulton Streets in Waverly, honors veterans. Outside, on their sidewall, is a large painting of an American Flag saying “God Bless Our Veterans.”
Inside the sidewalk fence are garden-sized Armed Forces Flags representing the five branches of service – Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
Boy Scout Troop 30, from Newark Valley, places flags at the Hope Cemetery in Newark Valley and Evergreen Cemetery in Berkshire.
Boy Scout Troop 30, from Newark Valley, places flags at the Hope Cemetery in Newark Valley and Evergreen Cemetery in Berkshire.
