25-05-2025
Memory lives on: Area West Point grad to commemorate the fallen
When Lt. Ben Meure visits Diamond Park on Monday, he'll be in familiar territory.
'I feel like I've been going to the Memorial Day Observance for as long as I can remember, especially with my dad,' Meure said earlier this week.
This time, the whole family will be there and there will be an important difference: Instead of being part of the crowd surrounding the gazebo bedecked with stars and stripes, the 2018 Meadville Area Senior High (MASH) graduate will be the parade marshal and keynote speaker.
'It's a real big honor for them to ask me,' Meure said, 'and I'm really excited to be able to do this — really looking forward to it.'
Meure has been busy since he graduated from MASH. Just a few weeks later, his parents, Tracy and Christopher, dropped him off at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
Four years later, Ben graduated and was commissioned in the Army as a finance and comptroller officer. Since then, his Army career took him to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where he was the distinguished honor graduate of the Army's Finance and Comptroller Officer Basic Course. Next, Meure was part of the finance staff for 'America's First Team,' the 1st Cavalry Division, at Fort Cavazos, Texas. Today, he's stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he works in financial management.
After training at West Point that often emphasized the skills needed for a combat platoon leader, Meure said his focus on finance has involved a bit of a learning curve.
'You learn more about the army and the Defense Department as an industry, almost, and how the government works,' he said. 'It's like a really big civics class.'
It's also a timely lesson.
'It's awesome to learn about how the government really works and it definitely ties into a lot of current events,' Meure added. 'What you're seeing on the news definitely impacts all of our Army, but my career field specifically.'
Meure and Rachel Popovich, his girlfriend, try to make the drive from North Carolina, along with their two dogs, to visit family about every month, but having them in town for Memorial Day is particularly gratifying for Joe Galbo, who chairs the committee that organizes the annual observance.
'It's always a special moment when we have folks from the Meadville area to be able to come back to speak,' Galbo said. 'To have a MASH grad, a West Point grad — that's a pretty special thing.'
Having secured Meure's appearance, Galbo is most looking forward to what he hopes will be good weather for the occasion. Due to the threat of inclement weather last year, the parade was canceled and the observance was moved to Meadville Central Fire Department. If something similar happens this year, Galbo said, the observance, which begins at 11 a.m., will be moved to the Downtown Mall. If necessary, the move will be announced Sunday.
In addition to Meure, Galbo said, a special guest will also be present: Denis Queva, the former city administrator of Fismes, France, Meadville's sister city and the place that about 150 soldiers from Meadville's Company B, 112th Infantry, 28th Division, liberated from German occupation in September 1918. The fighting in the Battle of Fismes and Fismette claimed the lives of about 13,000 American soldiers.
Queva and others in the tiny city are preparing to mark the centennial, in 2028, of the original construction of a bridge that replaced the one destroyed by the retreating Germans. A contribution of nearly $43,000 helped make construction of the replacement bridge possible.
The actions of those Crawford County natives far from their homes, and the efforts of others more than a century later to remember and honor them, fit well with the topic of the address Meure has planned for Monday.
'For many stand the few' — the motto of the West Point class of 2022 of which he was part — will be his theme.
'That really epitomizes what it means to serve,' Meure said. 'For every service member that has given the ultimate sacrifice, there's a mom, a dad, wife, husband, son, daughter — they continue to live that legacy.'
The address will encourage listeners to not let such sacrifices go unremarked but to remember 'and to live fuller lives for it.'
'Let this not just be about barbecues and summer starting,' Meure said, 'but remember those who have sacrificed for our nation.'
YOU CAN GO
The city of Meadville's Memorial Day events begin at 10 a.m. Monday with a parade from Water Street to Poplar Street and then north on Market Street before turning east on Chestnut Street to Diamond Park. The observance begins at 11 in Diamond Park and continues until noon when Meadville-area churches traditionally toll their bells. Portions of parade streets will close at about 9 a.m. and reopen shortly after the parade. Diamond Park itself will be closed to traffic from around 9 a.m. until noon.
