Memorial Day services to honor fallen veterans will start in Schoharie tonight, Thursday, and continue in other towns on Monday.
In Schoharie, the parade will start at 6pm and march from Bridge Street to the Old Stone Fort.
At the fort, military trucks will play music, and the Boy Scouts and Schoharie Central School band and choir will be on hand.
Fire Chief Doug Stinson will welcome the crowd and speak about Memorial Day, Scouts will raise the flag, and the band will play ‘America the Beautiful.
The fire department will then hold an open house, inviting visitors to watch a 360-degree virtual reality movie that shows the dangers of house fires and benefits of installing sprinklers in new homes.
The open house will include refreshments.
American Legion Post 57 will host Cobleskill’s observance at 10am Monday in Veterans Memorial Centre Park.
Town Historian Pete Lindemann will be the keynote speaker, touching on the theme of 2023 being the 50th anniversary of the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam.
Mr. Lindemann will talk about the 10 young Schoharie County men who died in service in Vietnam, including Larry Hoyt, pictured.
Mr. Lindemann quoted the late veteran Ron Ruland, who wrote on the Wall of Faces:
“Larry and I were on the [Cobleskill] high school track team together. I threw the shot and discus. Larry was a sprinter, and he was fast. Long legs.
“We never hung around together but we both served. Larry’s picture hung for many years in his alma mater’s library even before acknowledging honorable service became the fashion.
“I ended up teaching there and I would tell his story to my students. I am old now and retired and will soon be seeing Larry again I trust.”
The other veterans Mr. Lindemann will honor are Loren Armlin, Gregory Bauer, Raymond Brodie, Dennis Hogenboom, Joseph Mears, James Moore, Donald Sheehy, Christopher ‘Kit’ Sigman and Martin Wright.
The parade in Sharon Springs will start at 11am Monday at the school driveway off Chestnut Street and march down Chestnut to the main school driveway and entrance.
Civil War re-enactors, led by Ted Shuart, will fire a salute to the dead, and Reverend Thomas Davis, a member of American Legion Post 1269 and a Vietnam veteran, will be the guest speaker.
Legion Post Commander Paul Todd will place two wreaths at the veterans’ monuments.
Sharon Springs Central School band director Max Horning will lead the band in several numbers, and two band members–-brother and sister–-will play ‘Taps.’
If there’s bad weather, the observance will be in the school auditorium.
The parade in Esperance steps off at 1pm Monday from the western edge of the village.
The Esperance-Sloansville United Methodist Church will sponsor a traditional luncheon from noon to 2pm, and the Elks Club has a chicken-and-ribs barbecue from noon till sold out.
Worcester’s parade starts at 10am at the school and will march to Maple Grove Cemetery. It will pause there for the laying of wreaths, speaking and a rifle salute.
The parade will resume to Maple Street, Decatur Street, to the Veterans’ Memorial on Main Street and then back to the school.
In Schenevus, a service will be held at 9am Monday at Maryland Cemetery with Pastor Fred Johnson and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
There will be a parade to Schenevus Cemetery at 10am.