Community shows support for vets
While throngs of people lined Main Street Monday morning, instructor Lt. Col. Mark Pappal surveyed three columns of cadets from Butler High School's JROTC.
The students were preparing to march in the 2018 Butler Veterans Day Parade and they were going over their march tempo one last time. Nearby, a crew of motorcyclists revved their engines.
“If you look around, you have all these families with veterans and it's just a proud thing to do for all the families,” said Butler resident Warren Mitchell, a U.S. Air Force veteran who was preparing to mount his motorcycle for the American Legion Riders in the parade. “This is what it's all about. The fact that we still have veterans overseas makes it really important to have this.”
Along with Mitchell's “support unit,” as he called it, the procession along Main Street included various Scouts of America units, a number of school bands and cadets with Butler High School's JROTC.On both sides of the street, people attending the parade waved at veterans passing by. Jack Buckler, of Butler, trotted out to the middle of the street to shake a World War II veteran's hand.“I'm here just to honor the veterans and I wanted to bring my grandson here to show him,” Buckler said.Buckler said he graduated from Penn State in June 1969 and was drafted into the military. He would serve in the U.S. Army with an artillery unit during the Vietnam War between 1969 and 1971. How he was treated when he returned home still sticks with Buckler today.
“The veterans are the highlight of the parade. Everyone wants to shake my hand,” Buckler said. No one wanted to shake my hand when I got out (of Vietnam).”But now, with events like the Butler Veterans Day Parade, Buckler said people show their appreciation for service members that fought in America's conflicts.“The country has a good philosophy now on treating the veterans,” he said, “Regardless of the conflicts and what you think about them, we support our veterans as a country.”Several fire engines from VA Butler Fire department and Butler Township Fire District brought up the rear of the southbound parade.Every so often, responding to gesticulations from people, the trucks would sound the fire alarm. Equally thrilling to children were the bands of veterans tossing candy to the crowds lining Main Street.
Veteran Bill Katsko of Butler watched the parade as it came to an end. He waited with his daughter, Annette Tarrapino, and his grandson, Leo. Tarrapino's other child, Emma, soon joined them after participating in the parade as a sequinette with Butler High School's marching band. Katsko said he was deployed to Vietnam in 1965, soon after President Lyndon B. Johnson made the decision to escalate America's involvement in that country. His tour of duty there ended the following year.“I think it's important for people to see this,” Katsko said. “This is what this country is about. It's why we have the freedom. I just wish more people who have never been in combat could see this. That's what I mean when I say it's important.”Tarrapino said that her father doesn't talk much about his experience in Vietnam, where he drove a truck that hauled a 155 mm howitzer and provided fire support for infantry. But the parade served as their way of connecting to Katsko's military experience.
