8/7/2019 053110 Memorial Day Vets
1/1
WB_VOICE - CVDAILY - 5 - 05/31/10 WB_VOICE/PAGES [T05] 05/30/10
23:30 SUPERIMPWB
Plymouth
The Shawnee Cemeteryin Plymouth will hold itstraditional
Memorial Dayservice, hosted by thePlymouth VFW Post 1425, at11 a.m.
Afterward, AmericanLegion Post 463 will honor
Pvt. John Miller, a Civil Warveteran who was killed onthe
battlefield 146 years agoand buried as an unknownsoldier. He will
be honoredwith a military service anda dedication of a
memorialheadstone.
West Pittston/Exeter
The combined AmericanLegions of West Pittston andExeter will
hold its MemorialDay Parade starting at 11:30a.m. at Linden Street
andWyoming Avenue in WestPittston and ending at the
parking lot of St. CeciliasChurch on Wyoming Avenue inExeter.
Everyone is encouragedto stand and support ourtroops, past and
present,by lining the streets of WestPittston and Exeter, waving
theAmerican flag and saluting.
Wilkes-Barre
Parsons Lions Club will hostits Memorial Day Paradeat 10 a.m.
Participantswill meet at 9:30 a.m. inthe parking lot next to
theAnthracite Restaurant onScott Street in Wilkes-
Barre. The parade will marchdown Mill Street to GeorgeAvenue and
conclude atthe park on Scott Street,where the Wyoming
ValleyDetachment Marine CorpsLeague will hold a
memorialservice.
MEMORIAL DAY EVENTS
Fallen Italian-American veterans salutedBy Patrick SweetStaff
Writer
WEST WYOMING Wil-liam Uggiano recited thenames of fallen
servicemenat the Independent Italian
Cemetery on Sunday.Roughly 50 people listened
to Uggiano, a retired Navypetty officer first class, whileJohn
Hyder tolled a handbell.
The group congregatedaround twolarge headstonesand beneath the
Americanflag flown at half-staff.Uggiano and other membersof the
Italian American Vet-eransof Luzerne County and
the Korean War Veterans ofWyoming Valley salutedwhile Regan
Palfrey playedtaps.
A young boy jumpedafterthefirstreportfrom thegunsalute.
The scene was part of theannual Memorial Day ser-vice hosted by
the ItalianA m e rica n Ve t e ra n s o f LuzerneCounty Post 1.
Angelo Campanella, 80,
came from Columbus, Ohio,forthe MemorialDay service.His father,
Joseph, was a gro-cer in Wilkes-Barre and isburied in the
cemetery.
Campanellafound himselfat the services, not becausehe or his
father were service-men, but because Campanel-la worked with
servicemen.He helped put together theearly forms of infrared
tech-nology used with theatomic
bomb, Campanellasaid.Its the same type of tech-
nology theyre using withguided missiles now, Cam-panella
said.
C a m p a n e ll a s a i d h ethought the service was
great, but more important,that it was something thecountry
needsto continue.
Itmightsoundtriteto sayremember the sacrifices,Campanella said,
buttheyrereal.
Looking down at her par-ents grave markers, BettyStelacone, 71,
of Wyoming,remembered her fathersfondness for his country.
At a very young age, Stela-
cones father, Martin Lean-dri, left Italy to immigrate tothe
United States. Leandribecame a ships service manbarber grade three
in theNavy during World War II,butnot bychoice.
I think he was prettymuch drafted, Stelaconesaid. There really
wasnt achoice involved.
Leandri and his threebrothers, who were all in the
Army, all survived the war.Leandri died Sept. 7, 1973, at63
yearsold.
James Spagnola, directoro f v e te r a n s a f f a ir s o f
Luzerne County, served inthe Navy from 1982 to 1988.He was
theprincipalspeakerat theservice.
Spagnola told the story ofa World War II veteran whorelated his
experience as aprisoner of war in Nazi Ger-
many. He used the story tohighlight the hardships andsacrifices
made by soldiers.
The soldier watched as afellow prisoner was shot,point-blank,in
the head byaNazi officer. The Nazi guardsurged the officer not to
killthem all because the guardswould be sent to the
frontlinesafterward.
U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski,D-Nanticoke, spoke during
the service. He urged every-one to remember theservice-men
currently overseas inIraqand especially their fam-ilies.
Stop over and see some-one who has a family mem-ber overseas in
Iraq, Kanjo-rski said. Buytheirkidsahot dog; do something nicefor
them.
[email protected] 570-821-2117
DAVE SCHERBENCO / THE CITIZENS VOICE
Veterans Louis Bigiarelli, Vincent Aleo and Domi-nick Riccardo
salute during the playing of taps atthe Italian American Memorial
Day service Sunday.
White Haven man helps former
servicemen receive medals, benefitsBy Jill WhalenStaff
Writer
John Kearns of WhiteHaven has helped veteransreceive the
military medalsand compensation theydeserve.
Hes also helped widowsfile for benefits earned by
their husbands who servedthe country in the armedforces.
Over the past five yearsas a volunteer service offi-cer with the
Veterans ofForeign Wars Post 6615 inWhite Haven, Kearns haslost
count of the veteransheshelped.
Jo h n h a s s e rv e d s omany veterans, I dontknow one that he
hasnt
helped, Anthony Galardi,former commander of Post6615, said.
Kearns is help-ing Galardi process disabil-ityclaims from his30
yearsin the Army.
When working with vet-erans, Kearns has a 94 per-cent success
rate, an indi-cation that he knows his
way around the complexi-ties of filing claims for vet-erans
benefits from thestate and federal govern-ment.
I n f a c t , K e a r n s w a srecently honored by then a t i o
n a l V F W f o r h i sachievements. Hes nowwaiting to see whether
hellbe recognized as the mostoutstanding VFW serviceofficer.
SPECIAL TO TIMES-SHAMROCK
John Kearns, right, congratulates Leroy Carterand presents him
his earned World War IIawards in a ceremony with his wife, Mary, to
hisimmediate left. Carter returned from WWII in thePacific and
never received his military awards.
River Common
Pepsi VOTE
The River Common needs YOUR VOTES! A $50,000 GRANT IS ON THE
LINE from PEPSI
10Go to citizensvoice.com
LAST CHANCE TO VOTE and do some-thing good for your city with
one click!
VOTING is FREE!One vote per person per day.
click on this icon
TOVOTE!
REASON
THECITIZENSV
OICE
MONDAY,MAY31,2010
5
