Bataan Memorial March raises close to $5,000 for Wreaths Across America

Despite the inclement weather on April 29, the Norwin Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps raised about $5,000 for the North Huntingdon Chapter of Wreaths Across America from its Bataan Memorial March along the Westmoreland Heritage Trail.

More than 200 runners and walkers participated in the annual event on the trail, beginning at the B-Y Park in Trafford, said Jennifer Kerrigan, president of the boosters of the Norwin Air Force Junior ROTC.

The fundraiser is held on the last Saturday of April each year. It memorializes the Bataan Death March in April 1942, when the Japanese Army forced about 10,000 Americans and 65,000 Filipinos to march about 66 miles after they surrendered after three months during the Battle of Philippines. Prisoners were beaten and killed during the forced march.

The cadets and boosters of the Norwin Air Force Junior ROTC sponsor the annual event and donate all proceeds to worthy veterans charities, Kerrigan said.

The organization selected the North Huntingdon Chapter of Wreaths Across America when they learned it needed more money for wreaths to be placed on graves of veterans buried in Norwin area cemeteries, Kerrigan said. Alessia Sandala, a senior cadet and group commander of the Norwin AFJROTC, told the leaders of North Huntingdon Chapter of Wreaths Across America that the cadets and boosters wanted to donate all of the money raised this year for that cause.

”We are so excited to be able to donate this money to a local charity, we just wish it was twice as much!” Kerrigan said.

The cadets attend the annual wreath-laying ceremony and help place wreaths on graves of veterans in North Huntingdon and Irwin.