Just one day honoring those who died in service to our country isn't enough for Vietnam War veteran John B. Getz Jr.

"We need to remember them not just on Memorial Day, but every day," he said. "We need to remember them not just one day, but 365."

Getz will speak at a Memorial Day service Monday at the veterans' memorial in New Holland Community Park on East Jackson Street.

The service, beginning around 12:15 p.m., follows the annual pilgrimage to 14 cemeteries in eastern Lancaster County, which begins at 6:45 a.m. at the American Legion Home, 8 Brubaker Ave., New Holland.

The New Holland services are among numerous Memorial Day weekend services and parades, scheduled throughout the county.

Getz currently serves as the state commander of the Pennsylvania Department of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

As a VFW member, Getz said he works to help the families of active troops in any way possible — whether it's giving them money to make their next house payment, putting a roof on their home or visiting wounded soldiers in hospitals.

"We are a family," he said. "We all served in combat, so we all have a common being, and it's being under fire. Everybody understands the fear."

When Getz became VFW state commander he decided he wanted to travel to Iraq to "tap the soldiers on the back."

He took a Black Hawk into Baghdad.

"I went over there to see it for myself," Getz said. "I saw a lot of good. People love them over there."

Getz said he saw American troops treat a child who they "wrote off as dead." The child survived, he said, and is now receiving medical care in the United States.

He said he also saw troops supply Iraqi citizens with food, particularly canned goods, and other supplies.

Getz, who spoke on the steps of the state Capitol earlier this month, said Americans don't hear about these stories because, "It don't sell papers. (But) I'll speak about it any place I can."

Following is a day-by-day look of Memorial Day events slated this weekend.

SATURDAY

MOUNT JOY: A parade will begin at 2 p.m. at West Main and Angle streets and end at East Main and Barbara streets. The Donegal High School, Middle School and Alumni bands will perform. The grand marshals will be Paul and Curt Smith.

SUNDAY

COLUMBIA: A parade organized by the United Veterans Council will begin at 2 p.m. on the corner of 10th and Main streets and will last about an hour to an hour-and-a-half.

It will feature the Bainbridge, Columbia High School, Red Rose VFW Post 2435 and Westminster Municipal bands, as well as the Central York Middle School Colonial and Susquehanna fife and drum corps.

The keynote speaker is U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Dennis Benchoff and the grand marshal is Korean War veteran Donald Kohler.

LANDISVILLE/SALUNGA: A ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at the Hempfield Fire Department Park and Pavilion, 19 Main St.

The Sound of Roses band, students from Landisville Primary Center and the Landisville Intermediate Center  and James Riggs, who has sung in the Lancaster Opera Workshop, will provide music. Col. Christopher J. Papaj, a member of Carlisle War College's Class of 2008, will speak.

The Red Rose Veterans Honor Guard will provide military honors and the Mountville VFW Honor Guard will fire a salute to the dead. Four benches will be dedicated. Cash donations are requested.

MILLERSVILLE: An 11 a.m. service will be hosted by VFW Post 7294 at 291 Walnut Hill Road. Boy Scouts will place carnations on white crosses in memory of fallen soldiers.

REAMSTOWN: A service will be held in the Reamstown Memorial Park at 4 p.m. It is expected to last 30 to 40 minutes. Vietnam-era veteran Rick Steffy will speak. Fifth-grade essay contest winners Emily Duong and Meagan Weinhold will read their essays on "The Cost of Our Freedom." State Sen. Mike Brubaker will attend.

Attendees are invited to a luncheon afterward. The free meal includes hot dogs, chips and sodas. Donations benefiting Reamstown Memorial Park will be accepted. Parking is available in the park or at Salem Evangelical and Reformed Church, 21 E. Church St.

MONDAY

ELIZABETHTOWN: A parade will form at American Legion Post 329, 240 N. Hanover St., at 9:30 a.m. and leave at 10 a.m. A service will follow in the Elizabethtown Community Park, Spruce Street. The Elizabethtown Area High School Marching Band will provide music. Lt. Col. Edward E. Beck will speak. In the event of rain, a service will be held at the American Legion Post 329 Canteen, East Summit Street.

EPHRATA: A service will begin at 9 a.m. at Ephrata Memorial Field, near Dairy Queen. Attendees are invited to the AMVETS for a free brunch afterward.

LANCASTER: The Veterans of Foreign Wars will sponsor a memorial service at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Penn Square at 9 a.m.  Attendees parade to cemeteries on South Duke Street to place wreaths on graves. VFW Post 1690 Cmdr. Harry Cliff Danner will speak.

LITITZ: A parade will begin at 10:45 a.m. on North Broad Street and end at the Moravian Cemetery, 8 Church Square. Following the parade, a memorial service will be held in the cemetery.

Music will be provided by the Warwick High School band. American Legion member J.D. Jenkins will read the Gettysburg Address.

MARIETTA: A parade will organize at 10 a.m. at Riverview Elementary School, 411 River Road, and move at 11 a.m. The parade, which will feature the Lancaster chapter of Concerned Black Men and Boy Scout Troop 53 Fife and Drum Corps, will move to the square, through to Bridge Street and end at Marietta Cemetery. A ceremony will follow.

Music will be provided by the Donegal High School and Alumni bands and the General Reynolds Coronet Band. Patrick Kirkham, of the Lancaster County Speakers' Bureau, will speak.

NEW HOLLAND: The Ranck Family Heritage Society will sponsor a service at Ranck's United Methodist Church, 700 Ranck Road, from 2 to 4 p.m. The ceremony will feature video presentations about soldiers' active duty experiences and local community life during World War II.

Light refreshments will be available afterward.

REINHOLDS: A service will begin at 9 a.m. at the Reinholds Memorial. The Rev. David Hinkley will speak and the Heidelberg Brass Band will provide music. Attendees are invited to gather at the VFW post, 250 Brunners Grove Rd., afterward.

ROTHSVILLE: A parade will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Old Rothsville Road and end with a ceremony in the Jerusalem Lutheran Church cemetery, 36 Church St. The Rev. David Rike will do the invocation and American Legion member J.D. Jenkins will read the Gettysburg Address.

STRASBURG: Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8710 and the Strasburg Sertoma Club are sponsoring a parade, which will meet on Clearview Avenue at 8 a.m.

The parade will leave at 9:30 a.m. and travel east on Miller Street and West Main Street, through the square and down East Main Street. It will turn around where Routes 741 and 896 split and turn left onto South Decatur Street. A service in the Strasburg Cemetery, Franklin Street, will begin at 11 a.m. Col. Shawn Welch will speak.

In the event of rain, the service will be held in the Pole Barn, 46 W. Main St.

WRIGHTSVILLE: A parade will leave the American Legion post, 101 S. 2nd St., at 2 p.m. and end at Fairview Cemetery,  Sixth and Hellam streets, by 4 p.m. The parade will feature the United Veterans Marine Corp Honor Guard and the Wrightsville Fire Company.


Staff writer Liz Navratil can be reached at lnavratil@LNPnews.com or 481-6014.