Alum to Lead Memorial Day Parade
and Ceremony
Monday's Huntington Memorial Day Parade will be led by 2003 Huntington High School graduate James Byler, a 1st Lieutenant in the United States Marines who lost both leg's and the pinky fingers on each hand in a bomb blast while on patrol with his unit in Afghanistan late last fall.
The Huntington Blue Devil marching band and the J. Taylor Finley Middle School band will perform in the parade. The parade will kick-off at 11:30 a.m. and head north on New York Avenue from Semon Road/Holdsworth to West Carver Street, then head west to Green Street before going north to Main Street and then east. A reviewing street packed with local dignitaries will be erected on Main Street.
The parade is hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Nathan Hale Post #1469. It will be a family affair and is expected to draw hundreds, if not thousands, of children.
Mr. Byler will be the keynote speaker at a wreath laying ceremony on Sunday (May 29) at 9:30 a.m. at Veteran's Plaza on the front lawn of Huntington Town Hall on Main Street. A brass ensemble from Huntington High School under the direction of Jason Giachetti and the high school chamber choir under the direction of Veronica Mainville students will perform pieces of patriotic music during the ceremony, which will be followed by refreshments. For more information call 351-3012.
Mr. Byler received a hero's welcome upon returning to his Huntington home on December 23. A graduate of Purdue University, he was injured while serving as an infantry platoon leader with the Third Battalion, 5th Marines out of Camp Pendleton, California.
On that dark day in Afghanistan, the courageous soldier stepped backwards while on patrol in the town of Sangin and a buried IED exploded with devastating consequences. The Huntington grad, who has been awarded a Purple Heart, was brought to safety in a wheelbarrow by members of his platoon.
After being cared for in U.S. military hospitals in Afghanistan and Europe, Lt. Byler was transferred to the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland and later fitted for prosthetic legs at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.