American Legion Columbia Post 97 honors veterans

BREWSTER – The Honor Guard comprised of members of American Legion Columbia Post 97 devoted Memorial Day morning to a succession of veterans’ remembrances at four area cemeteries including Pateros, Packwood, Fort Okanogan and Paradise Hill with a stop along the way on the Bridge Street bridge.

Following three days of overcast skies and rain, fair weather greeted participants and spectators alike at all locations.

In company with a three-man firing squad, two color bearers and a bugler, Area Three Commander Denny Pittman conducted memorial services that included the laying of a wreath, posting the colors, reciting an official dedication, directing a three-round volley and audience acknowledgement. The morning’s schedule began at the Pateros Cemetery at 9 a.m. and paused on the Bridge Street bridge where a memorial wreath was dropped into the Columbia River as a remembrance of those veterans lost at sea.

The Honor Guard next gathered at 10 a.m. at the Packwood Cemetery on Dyer Hill before traveling to the Fort Okanogan Memorial Cemetery on U.S. 97 north of Monse. There the Legion contingent met up with the Colville Tribes Honor Guard that was making its rounds to cemeteries from St. Mary’s Mission to Chilliwist. Both groups held ceremonies at Fort Okanogan before heading their separate ways to complete the day’s assignments.

The Columbia Post 97 Honor Guard found its largest audience on Paradise Hill at Locust Grove Cemetery in its next-to final stop back and final ceremony at American Legion Park at post headquarters.