Members of the Wyomissing Junior-Senior High Marching Band paused in front of the parade reviewing stand in the 500 block of Penn Avenue in West Reading on Saturday morning to pay tribute to the Marine Corp.
Team team of twirlers of tall flags performed while players of brass instruments belted out the “The Marines’ Hymn.”
One of the world’s most recognizable songs, spectators didn’t need lyrics; they could hear them inside their heads, especially the opening verse:
From the Halls of Montezuma
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country’s battles
In the air, on land, and sea
Saturday was Armed Forces Day, which recognizes servicemembers, past and present, in all six branches of the US military: the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Air Force, and Space Force.
Drizzly weather didn’t stop keep Mike and Kyrie Welch, center, of West Reading from enjoying the parade Saturday with their friends Alex and Megan Rodriguez of Sinking Spring and the couples’ children: Colten Welch, 4, and his sister Aubrey, 5; Vincent Rodriguez, 2, and his sister Kara, 11. (STEVEN HENSHAW – READING EAGLE)
This was the 76th year of the Berks County parade, believed to be the longest continuously running Armed Forces Day parade in the country, the parade emcee told spectators.
The Berks County Armed Forces Advisory Committee highlights a different branch each year, and this year was the Marine Corps’ turn.
Major General David W. Maxwell, U.S. Marine Corps, served as the parade reviewing officer, while Sgt Maj. (Retired) Rocco C. DeCamillo, who served decades in the Marine Corps Reserves. DeCamillo is a detective sergeant with the Exeter Township Police Department.
The 40-minute procession set out at 10 a.m. from Eight and Penn avenues in Wyomissing, led by the Reading High School Junior ROTC cadets ahead of their school’s Red Knight Band, which belted out “You’re a Grand Old Flag” as it passed under the arch.
The procession continued east under a steady drizzle for five blocks before five blockers through the West Reading central business district, turning onto South Third and then Spruce Street.
Spectators were relatively scant so those who watched the parade had almost unlimited options for spots from which to watch the parade outside or under a storefront roof (or inside a restaurant). Umbrellas and raincoats were a necessary part of the wardrobe, but the temperature was a comfortable 60 degrees.
The honor guard of Boy Scouts Troop 155, Tuckerton, in the 500 block of Penn Avenue in West Reading, salutes the Marine Corps during the 76th annual Berks County Armed Services Day Parade on Saturday. (STEVEN HENSHAW – READING EAGLE)
West Reading residents Kyrie and Mike Welch hosted their friends Megan and Alex Rodriguez of Sinking Spriong. Their children–two each ranging in age from 2 to 11–needed only two umbrellas for shelter as they sat on blankets on the curb in the 700 block of Penn.
The Welches’ home is a few blocks from the parade route.
Kyrie said there’s something about a parade—the bringing of various groups of people in the community together for a couple of hours for a common purpose—that touches her heart.
“We like to do anything ‘Americana,’” she said. “I always get choked up watching it.”
Sharlene Williams of Robesonia lamented that some community parades have faded away. She serves on Robesonia’s Jack Frost Parade, now in it’s 11th year, which is staged the first Sunday in November.
A float made by Berks Catholic High School students passed under the arch created by aerial ladder trucks of the West Reading and Exeter Township fire departments on Penn Avenue in Wyomissing during the Armed Services Day Parade. (STEVEN HENSHAW – READING EAGLE)
Before the Saturday’s parade, Williams watched with interest as firefighters hung a large American flag from the arch formed by two aerial ladder firetrucks—one from the West Reading Fire Department and the other from the Exeter Township Fire Department.
Tyler Boland, 20, of Spring Township drive his Jeep along the parade route with his passenger, Edward Conrad, 98, a Navy veteran of World War II. (STEVEN HENSHAW – READING EAGLE)
Tyler Boland, 20, of Spring Township, whose mission to interview all living World War II veterans and has been featured in numerous media outlets, including the Reading Eagle, rode his own vintage military Jeep in the procession. His passenger was Edward Conrad, 98, a resident of Keystone Villa at Fleetwood, who served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater during the war.
Boland’s fascination with World War II began with his senior project at Wilson High School.
Someone half his age who shares a fascination with the military, especially World War II, was among the spectators.
Elijah Ontaneda, 10, of Reading, gets a mini-flag from a member of a military service organization during Saturday’s Armed Services Day Parade. (STEVEN HENSHAW – READING EAGLE)
Elijah Ontaneda, 10, of Reading watched the parade with his mother, Tempest.
“He has a very, very strong interest in the military,” Elijah’s mother, Tempest, said after Elijah ran out to get a flag being handed out by Vietnam Veterans of America Post 131 “He can’t wait to go to the World War II Weekend (Mid Atlantic Air Museum’s 33rd Annual World War II Weekend June 7-9 at Reading Regional Airport) to see all of the airplanes and military vehicles.”
Who knows, maybe someday he’ll ride his own Jeep down Penn Avenue.
Source: Berkshire mont
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