Memorial Day observed in Berks

Sonny Beilhart waves with his 2-year-old grandson during the Mohnton Memorial Day Parade Monday. (BILL UHRICH – READING EAGLE)

Monday’ Memorial Day parade in Mohnton kicked off a busy day for local Sea Cadets.

In their crisp white dress uniforms, the youngsters from the Sea Cadets Corps’ USS Maine Division began marching about 9 a.m. down Wyomissing Avenue from the Mohnton VFW, fourth in the line.

They had one more parade to participate in–Shillington’s Memorial Day Parade–that morning before they were to join about 100 other Sea Cadets at Reading Regional Airport for a World War II-style encampment, part of their training, said Lt. Annett Howe, Maine Division executive officer.

The U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps is a federally chartered nonprofit youth development program for ages 11 through the completion of high school,

They weren’t the only unit pulling double duty. As pointed out by parade announcer Terry Stephenson at the conclusion of the 30-minute parade, “A lot of these people go straight from here to Shillington’s parade.”

The Mohnton and Shillington parades were among eight Memorial Day parades Monday in Berks County. The others were in Bernville, Birdsboro, Boyertown, Exeter Township, Fleetwood. and Hamburg. Parades were also held in Wyomissing and Oley earlier in the holiday weekend.

Apart from parades, the Combined Veterans Council of Berks County held its annual Memorial Day services in Reading, including a 9 a.m. service at Veterans Grove in City Park followed by a 10:15 a.m. service at the Civil War memorial at Charles Evans Cemetery. Muhlenberg Township Parks and Recreation Department also hosted its annual Memorial Day ceremony at 9 a.m. at near the flagpole in Jim Dietrich Park.

The guest speaker for the Reading services was Sgt. Maj. Laureano Perez, Jr., the senior instructor for the Reading High School Marine Corps JROTC, who retired from the Marine Corps after 25 years of service that included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Perez, speaking near the headstones of buried Civil War soldiers in Charles Evans Cemetery, said he served with many Marines and sailors who made the supreme sacrifice, and it hurts deeply.

He said it’s important to speak for those who no longer have a voice.

“Their deaths were not in vain,” he said, asking that people reflect on the freedom they enjoy today.

This year’s Mohnton parade drew a few more entries than last year’s, said Stephenson, who is among those working to return the parade, now in its 63rd year, to a semblance of its past glory.

He said it’s one of two parades in town–the other is October’s Great Pumpkin Parade–and he feels it’s important to keep both going.

The spectators dotting the parade route to Mohnsville Cemetery, where a memorial service was held, seem to agree, though many expressed disappointment over parade attendance the last two years.

“Not so many people come out,” said Connie Beilhart of Mohnton, who with her husband Sonny had no trouble finding a seat along the curb in the center of town to take in the parade with 2-year-old grandson, Blake. “We come every year.”

The toddler collected enough candy—tossed by members of Mohnton/Cumru Lions Club, Mohnton VFW Auxiliary and others—to fill a bag.

For those who grew up in Mohnton, the parades are part of what they like about Mohnton, no matter their age.

“I love it,” said Dan Hanley IV, as he and his friend Madelyn Como watched one of the parade’s highlights, the powerhouse Reading Buccaneers Drug and Bugle Corps, pass by on East Wyomissing Avenue. “I’ve been coming to the Mohnton parade since I was little.”

Though a relatively short procession, it was laden with tradition and patriotism, and oozing in visual tapestry century-old stone buildings as the backdrop.

Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts from Pack/Troop 241, Knauers, carried a huge American flag to lead the short procession under the arch formed by extended ladders from West Reading and Adamstown fire company tower trucks at Wyomissing Avenue and Church Street.

The parade provides an opportunity for those in Scouting to fulfill part of their Scout oath of service to their country.

“This is a service for us,” said John Hyneman, assistant scoutmaster for the troop. “This is a large part of our organization’s mission.”

The parade featured two other bands besides the Buccaneers: Pretzel City Dixie Land Jazz Band and Happy Dutchmen brass band played aboard floats.

One of the largest groups in the procession didn’t play instruments. Dozens of youth participants and coaches from Mifflin Area Youth Baseball Association stretched for more than a half-block.

The Patriotic Order Sons of America Mohnton Camp 211 had several vehicles in the parade.

Aboard another float was an elderly woman dressed in a Rosie the Riveter scarf and bibs. It was 100-year-old Dorothy Trate of Birdsboro, who actually wore uniform 80 years ago while working as a punch press operator at the Doehler-Jarvis die-casting plant in Pottstown. Now Pottstown Precision Casting in Stowe, the factory produced nearly 10,000 parts for the war effort.

Country singer Cody Tyler, a Gov. Mifflin High School grad, capped off the service following the parade with a rendition of “God Bless the USA.”

The parade and memorial service were followed by a free performance by the Reading Buccaneers (speaking of double duty) in the Mohnton Playground.