Tuskegee Airmen Joining Lower Merion Memorial Day Celebrations

ARDMORE, PA – The Lower Merion Township Memorial Day Concert, Parade & Service is set for Monday, May 29 and will feature local veterans, emergency responders, civic groups and more. This year, the parade will welcome in special guests: the Tuskegee Airmen.

The festivities begin at 9:45 a.m. at the corner of Lancaster and Argyle roads, where The Merion Concert Band will play military service songs and patriotic selections.

Parade marchers will gather at 10 a.m. on Greenfield Avenue with the parade marching at 10:30 a.m.

As it heads down Greenfield Avenue, the parade will stop in front of the Lower Merion Township Building at for a parade reviews.

The parade will then head to St. Paul’s Cemetery for the Memorial Day Service at 11:15 a.m.

Rev. Laura Tancredi, B.A., M.Div. of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, and Capt. John J. Mulhern, U.S.N.R. (Ret.) will officiate at the service.

Henry Spady, a Vietnam veteran and past Commander of the American Legion Post #547, and Barry McKeon, a Vietnam Veteran representing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, will lead the Flag Ceremony.

The Cannon Salute will be rendered by Pennsylvania’s 98th Volunteers.

Members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, area veterans, and the Honor Guard from the Bryn Mawr Fire Co. will lead the parade, followed by elected officials and dignitaries, piper Daniel Emery and other parade participants along Lancaster Avenue.

Not only will these groups and many others be marching, you can march, too.

Families and children are welcome with their bicycles, strollers and wagons. First, second and third place awards will be given for the best decorated bicycles.

The parade's Master of Ceremonies is Duncan Van Dusen.

For those unfamiliar with the Tuskegee Airmen:

The “Tuskegee Airmen” were those aviators involved in the so-called “Tuskegee Experience,” the Army Air Corps program to train African-Americans to fly and maintain combat aircraft at Moton Field near Tuskegee, Alabama, according to the group’s website.

They included pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff,instructors, and all the personnel who kept the planes and pilots in the air.

The Tuskegee Airmen overcame segregation and prejudice to become one of the most highly respected fighter groups of World War II—individual pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group earned 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses.

The achievements of the Airmen, together with the men and women who supported them, paved the way for full integration of the U.S. military.

Other organizations and groups participating include: Eastwick Commandoes; Enon Trinity Drill Team & Drum Corps; Cub Scout dens, Girls Scout and Boy Scout troops;the Southwest Philadelphia Light Bearers; West Powelton Drummers; members of Next level Sports and the First Position Dance Studio, and more.

Image via Wikimedia Commons