Memorial Day 2020 is without parades, church services or 21-gun salutes, but area residents are spending their time today silently remembering those who served and sacrificed their lives during America’s many wars.

Debra Francis of Juniata remembers her father, Army Sgt. Lowell H. Norris.

Eugene A. Boyle of Altoona, a veteran of the Marine Corps, remembers his fallen comrades on Iwo Jima, and Charles Ahearn of Duncansville, a Vietnam veteran, says hardly a day goes by that he doesn’t think about nine days of hell his 4th Army Infantry Division experienced in May 1967 as they held off an incursion into then South Vietnam by a large number of regulars from the north.

A mine explodes

Norris, only 20 at the time, suffered injuries when a mine exploded as he was running across a World War II battlefield in France.

Francis displays a picture of her father in her Juniata home. She has kept his Purple Heart, and while he died in 1974, she wears his ring on a finger of her left hand.

“He never talked about the war,” she said as she was planning her activities for this Memorial Day.

Norris had aspirations to become a lawyer but ended up working for the railroad and eventually served as the Pennsylvania State Commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Francis described herself as a “VFW brat,” having visited every VFW in Pennsylvania. She is now active with the Juniata VFW.

Her father was the inspiration behind the local VFW’s annual banquet that honors area police officers.

Prayer for veterans

As his way of remembering, Boyle said, “I say a prayer for all the veterans.”

The 94-year-old said his service with the Fifth Marine Division was “so long ago.”

But he remembers that on his 17th birthday he found himself on Iwo Jima, and he remembers helping to bury more than 7,000 Marines who were killed during that 38-day battle, which also cost the lives of 20,000 Japanese.

Boyle, in an interview during an Armed Forces Day observance five years ago, mused, “They said World War II (as well as World War I) were wars to end all wars, but we are still fighting.”

A friend of Boyle’s, Blair County Senior Judge Hiram A. Carpenter, said, “When you spend time with Gene, you are spending time with living history.”

Boyle remains in touch with a fellow veteran of Iwo Jima in New York.

He often participated in the Memorial Day parade.

Boyle joined the Marines at age 16.

He believed they knew he was underage, but, he reasoned, “We were at war, and they needed me.”

As the battle for Iwo Jima subsided, he was surprised to see his older brother was there, also.

He remembered a reporter interviewed the brothers and took their picture.

When his dad in Altoona saw the story in the Mirror showing the brothers on Iwo Jima, “He just about jumped out of his skin,” Boyle said.

A battle at the border

Ahearn of Duncansville, who also serves as a deacon at St. Mary Roman Catholic Church in Hollidaysburg, said Vietnam veterans are entering their 70s at this point.

But the local businessman reported hardly a day goes by that he does not think about his experience in what is now known as “Nine Days in May,” the title of a book written by fellow veteran Warren K. Wilkins.

The book, which mentions Ahearn, reviews a series of battles along the Vietnam-Cambodian border west of Pleiku in which his 4th Infantry Division ran into a large number of North Vietnamese regulars seeking incursion into then South Vietnam.

He particularly remembers May 22, 1967, when his unit engaged in a bloody battle that resulted in 13 American soldiers dead and 70 wounded.

Ahearn was one of the wounded. His injuries were tended, but as he was about to be released from the hospital to rejoin his unit, it was discovered he was suffering from malaria.

He never returned to the war, and he still feels the effects of the malaria.

“I lost a lot of friends there,” he said, noting he still keeps in touch with those who survived.

The 4th Infantry Division received a Presidential Unit Citation, with three of its members receiving the Medal of Honor for their service during those nine days.

For Memorial Day, Ahearn planned to go to the cemetery to remember deceased relatives, and, referring to President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address, he noted it is also good to remember the sacrifices of those who died so they will not have died in vain.

Canceling parade ‘devastating’

Blair County has many parades celebrating Memorial Day. They involve many bands, military units and a variety of other participants, and most have a speaker.

Prayers are said, and the parades are usually followed by get-together at the VFWs or American Legions.

The two largest parades include the one held in downtown areas of Altoona and Hollidaysburg.

Lloyd Peck, the commander of the Blair County War Veterans Council, said Altoona’s 2019 parade was its largest ever. It included 101 units and more than 11,000 people lining the downtown streets.

Other parades include the one through the city’s Juniata section, and a much smaller march sponsored by the Bavarian Aid Society, the Brush Mountain Sportsmen’s Club, St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Altoona, and Council of Catholic War Veterans.

After winding through the streets near the church, the parade traditionally ends at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Cemetery in Altoona, where a service is held and the veterans are honored.

Peck said he felt bad the Altoona parade was canceled, but the restriction imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic prohibited the city from issuing permits.

A Marine with more than 21 years of service, Peck stated it takes a lot of work putting together parades for Memorial Day, but this year “our hands are tied.”

“I don’t like it,” he said. “The veterans are not too happy.”

Peck is hoping that COVID-19 restrictions will be eased by July 4 when he plans to hold a celebration titled “God and Country.”

But that remains to be seen at this point.

At 89 years old, Peck said, “I still keep going.”

Michael McDonough, an Army veteran who serves as president of the Bishop Eugene A. Garvey Catholic War Veterans Post 1691, said the cancellation of the St. Mary’s March is “devastating.”

The tradition of the parade began in the 1940s, he said.

But to have so many people gathered so close to each other would not be good in view of how easily the corona­­virus spreads.

A wreath-laying ceremony at St. Mary’s Cemetery was held over the weekend in celebration of Memorial Day.

While the Juniata VFW parade was canceled, Ken Garman, a retired city police officer and Magisterial District Judge, said the representatives of the Juniata VFW will place flags on veterans graves in three local cemeteries.

Garman is an Army veteran.

Hollidaysburg parade canceled, too

Like other officials in the area, Hollidaysburg Mayor Joseph R. Dodson and Samuel Dunkle, the commander of American Legion Post 516 in Hollidaysburg, thought it was best to cancel the parade in the county seat.

The two are urging the public to pause at 11 a.m. today for a moment of silence in honor of the veterans.

Dodson talked about World War II. He was only 9 years old, but he still remembers rationing, darkouts and the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The mayor was a Marine reservist and then joined the regular Army in 1950s.

His family has a line of veterans who served in the battle for the Argonne Forest in World War I, the Battle of the Bulge in World War II and Korea.

As a youngster, he remembers his neighbor in Newry Borough, Cpl. Harry Harr.

Harr was killed in World War II when an enemy grenade landed where he and four others were manning a machine gun.

Harr fell on the grenade and lost his life, but he saved the other four, who continued fighting.

Harr’s death occurred on June 5, 1945. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1946.

Pastor Paul Johnson

Retired Altoona Pastor Paul Johnson, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War said, it’s “really sad” we can’t have the parade, but despite that, he believes America’s veterans are being recognized for their sacrifices.

Flags are put in cemeteries and on Facebook, he said.

The military has been conducting flyovers in honor of the doctors, nurses and other medical personnel on the front line of the COVID-19 response.

The flyovers, Johnson believes, not only boost the morale of Americans but bring attention to the military as well.

“I feel there has been a real focus on veterans,” he said.

The highlight for Johnson was his part in bringing a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Wall located on the grounds of the Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona.

He also feels that services to veterans at the hospital now are what he called “spot on.”

Johnson is a member of a local American Legion and a life member of the VFW. He also serves as a volunteer chaplain at UPMC Altoona.

He was attempting this week to arrange the placement of a wreath at the wall in memory of the fallen veterans.

“Sacrifice,” he said, “is nothing without remembrance.”