Parade, ceremony honor Mansfield veterans

MANSFIELD - Flags are everywhere during the Memorial Day parade down Park Avenue. There are flags on T-shirts, flags on scarves, flags painted onto fire hydrants and flags printed onto perforated lens sunglasses. Flags are draped over cars, handed to those sitting on the sidewalk watching the parade, and carried by retired honor guards and active Air Force members.

The parade starts with little sound. It is quiet enough to hear the soft cadence spoken by the Air Force guard carrying the flags. It is quiet until the Mansfield Senior High marching band starts marching, playing "God Bless America" and other patriotic songs.

Still, the flags remained the center of attention. Salutes rose as the honor guards passed veterans, and everyone else would clap for each passing.

Ray Jasinski fought in Korea, and in the last two years two members of his honor guard have died, and the third was in the hospital. He carries the American flag alone, acknowledging each person that calls to him from the sidewalk.

Jasinski isn't the only Korean War veteran in the parade. A group of 12 are seated in a trailer, six facing each side, waving to the crowds as they go slowly by. One Vietnam veteran tells another "That could be us in five years."

The Knights of Columbus marched by, carrying the Vatican City flag alongside the United States flag. They were trailed by a truck with a trailer displaying more than 25 American flags, all facing different directions and catching the breeze in different spaces.

As each unit in the parade reached the end of their march at Main Street and Park Avenue, a uniformed man met them with a stoic, unmoving salute.

Some of the parade members remained at the gazebo for the Memorial Day service. A choir sung each military branch's service song, along with "Amazing Grace" and The Lord's Prayer.

Norm Johnson, a 90-year-old World War II veteran, was the keynote speaker.

"Memorial Day is not a burial, a funeral or a day to say goodbye," Johnson said. "It is a reminder of our responsibility, a reminder that we are entrusted with the memory of our fallen comrades."

Johnson's closing line drew the loudest round of applause of the day, and left him choked up.

"It is also a day to rekindle our own pride," he said. "We live in the greatest nation on the face of the earth."

zlemon@gannett.com

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Twitter: @zack_lemon