Memorial Day In The Bitterroot
Longtime Corvallis American Legion Post 91 member Frank Mason was Grand Marshal of the annual Memorial Day Parade (photos below) that highlighted the activities on a warm Monday in the Bitterroot Valley.
The parade has been held every year for 101 years, including last year during the pandemic. However, this year, the crowds along the parade route were larger than normal, and the route, starting at the north end of main street at the Corvallis High School, turned at the Corvallis cut-off road and extended another two blocks, with crowds along the roadside all the way.
A little later in the day, Corvallis Post 91 also read names of veterans buried at the Corvallis Cemetery, then they met at the Woodside Bridge and dropped a wreath in the Bitterroot River to remember those who perished at sea in service to the country.
World War II Remains of Hamilton Man Identified
Later this year, Army Private Wayne M. Evans will be coming home. Evans died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) conclusively identified his remains last year.
According to a news release from the DPAA, Evans was a 21-year-old Army Private with Battery G, 59th Coast Artillery Regiment, in the Philippine Islands when the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula to Japanese forces happened in April, 1942. He was held at the Cabanatuan POW camp until his death July 19,1942, according to research from the American Graves Registration Service (AGRS). His body was buried with others in what is known as Common Grave 312. Over 2,500 U.S. and Filipino prisoners died in that camp.