Veterans to be Honored in Somerset County

Memorial Day in Somerset County will be celebrated at the County Courthouse at 9:30 a.m., in the annual ceremony sponsored by the Somerset Memorial Day Committee. Former Commander Charles H. Prince of the Pennsylvania Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars will speak. Prince is a U.S. Navy veteran who served on the USS Missouri during World War II. In addition to the speaker, wreaths will be laid at the county’s war monuments and a 21-gun salute will sound. The yearly Memorial Day Parade will follow the ceremony; Somerset County Comprehensive Plan Coordinator Kerri Burtner says the procession’s Honor Guard is special this year. “We’ve been able to find local soldiers who have recently returned from Afghanistan or Iraq who will be carrying the flags and the rifles through the town for the parade, and we’re real pleased with that,” says Burtner. The parade will proceed for about 6 blocks west along Main Street in Somerset.