Honoring living veterans in Upper St. Clair
Lt. Commander Tim Murphy (PA-18th) told some of the lessons we’ve learned since the War of 1812.
Sargents Joe Turba, Bob Malley, and Harry Schreiber of the Marine Corps color guard, Dispatch 726.
Richard Niewoehner, 90, listens as over 200 people sing happy birthday to him.
Volunteers hoist the auxilary colors of the MIA-POW, state flag and others.
Bowing in prayer to remember those who have died while serving in the military.
It’s usually a somber occasion amid the playing of taps and a 12-gun salute, but those who gathered on a sunny Veterans Day in Upper St. Clair’s Veterans Park sang happy birthday to a 90-year-old Navy veteran.
Richard Niewoehner sat in his wheelchair as roughly 230 people in attendance sang happy birthday to him. He also was one of the loudest and clearest voices singing “God Bless America.”
Niewoehner was among 20 other veterans who were able to tell their own war stories in lucid detail. One such man was 92-year-old Lou Mafrice, father of the Upper St. Clair school board president, who served in World War II as a radio operator in the Army’s 13th Armored Division.
“We freed so many in one of the concentration camps … it was odd not being able to talk to most of them,” Mafrice said. His position in communications led to some interesting situations.
“We were making our way (toward the Rhine River) when a division of Hungarian troops, some sailors, fighting for the Germans, came up to me to surrender. I told the man, ‘I’m just a corporal!’ But he said, ‘You’re the one with the radio. We want to surrender to you.’ So I had them surrender.”
Other times, Mafrice couldn’t communicate even if he wanted to.
“The first three weeks in the German mainland, you weren’t allowed to talk to anyone. No German girls, nothing. You’d lose your stripes. That order was rescinded after three weeks because they knew they couldn’t keep troops from going out,” Mafrice said. But for him, it was no matter: he met his wife on a USO base.
As 154 Upper St. Clair High School band and choir members played the songs of the Marines, Army, Air Force and Navy, Lt. Commander Tim Murphy – the Congressman for the 18th district – took to the podium to talk some history of the War of 1812.
“The U.S.S. Constitution was a warship that had a hastily put-together crew. They were drilled nine times a day before setting out to defend our borders … they were on the run one day from a British ship, blasting their canons miles away. This slow-moving chase lasted 57 hours, using tactics like pulling on an anchor cast from smaller ships, and non-stop rowing; rowing and rowing since there was hardly any wind. The crew was exhausted,” Murphy said.
“And that is what we must recognize when we serve our veterans. We must take over the oars. They are tired, and they have done their duty. We must recognize the one percent who take up the call for the 99 percent of this country.”
Murphy was one of the leading congressional voices to hold Veterans Affairs leaders accountable after Legionnaires’ Disease outbreaks in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, and the subsequent coverups and promotions of personnel who oversaw the hospitals. His legislation to allow veterans to seek paid care outside of VA hospitals passed the House in June.