Wednesday's activities begins with a parade stepping off at 10 a.m. from the corner of North and Fenn streets and feature 10 local veterans groups, the city Police and Fire departments and the marching bands from Pittsfield and Taconic high schools.
The parade will proceed south on South Street to the World War I monument which serves as the backdrop for the city's annual Veterans Day ceremony. The event will include a flyover -- weather permitting -- by a pair of F-15 planes from the 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield around 11 a.m., weather permitting.
Sherman Baldwin, the host of WBRK radio's weekday "Talk Berkshire" program, will be the keynote speaker. While Baldwin isn't a veteran himself, he understands what it means to be part of a military family. He had two uncles serve as pilots in World Ward II, his father, Sherman Baldwin Sr. was a Marine in the Korean War and his son, Sherman Baldwin III has spent the past six years in the Coast Guard.
"I come [to the ceremony] as a son of a veteran and a father of a son on active duty," Baldwin said.
While Pittsfield's veterans are center stage on Wednesday, the soon-to-be restored Veterans Memorial will also command some attention.
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The Pittsfield Veterans Memorial Restoration Committee has nearly $70,000 in private donations set aside toward the project, which Chairman Jeff Thompson has said will cost far below the estimated $50,000 to $85,000.
However the committee, appointed by the City Council in March, has already made marked improvements to the monument since Veterans Day, 2008.
The most dramatic change was the re-installation of the memorial's original lights, which were discovered in an old city storage shed in June.
The vintage 1926 lamps were restored and re-lit during a separate ceremony on Oct. 20.
Residents have since been awed by the illuminated memorial, according to Jeff Thompson, chairman of the Restoration Committee.
"They are finding out how overwhelming the [monument] is," said Thompson. "It just seems to leap out at you at night."
"It takes my breath away," added Roseanne M. Frieri, the city's director of veterans services.
To reach Dick Lindsay:
rlindsay@berkshireeagle.com,
or (413) 496-6233.
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