Free Press –
Bill Peischel Flags Relay For Life
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Today’s topics are Bill Peischel and his 50 years of placing American flags on the graves of service men and women in 20 Upper Bucks County cemeteries, plus a wrap up of the successful Relay for Life.
Have you ever wondered how new American flags appear on veterans’ graves every Memorial Day? While filling my car with expensive gasoline, I saw Bill Peischel. He and his committee of veterans from the Wallace Willard Keller American Legion Post 242 were on their way to replace tattered American flags.
How many flags will it take, I asked?
The answer is startling. The number is 1,546…that’s eight gross of flags! Over 700 flags will be replaced in Quakertown’s Union Cemetery alone. Bill is quick to point out that he has assistance. “Five or six help me each year,” he began. “Dozens of people and the Boy Scouts give us a hand in Quakertown.” David Shields and Earl Rush are the chairmen this year.
Bill showed me books, which give every name and the location of each veteran’s grave in the 20 cemeteries. The flags decorate the graves of veterans from every war, starting with the American Revolution and ending with Iraq.
His wife, Janice, helps Bill keep things straight. Janice taught math for 22 years, 19 of them in Quakertown. Geometry was her specialty. I told her about the controversy about how math is taught in the Quakertown public schools. Her opinions are similar to those of Lawrence Handy, the retired math teacher in the Pennridge school system. And Joy Hirokawa, a Quakertown mother agrees. Some day soon, we’ll discuss them.
As I walked into the Peischel home in Quakertown, I noticed a painting. It was a picture of a church in Rothenberg, Germany. His unit liberated Rothenberg in 1945. Bill served in the 26th Infantry Division and fought in Germany. An enemy sniper nearly killed Bill and it cost him his leg.
The 26th was a Massachusetts unit and was named the “Yankee Division.” That beautiful stone church in Rothenberg was destroyed by the 26th in the First World War, Bill explained. After the war, every man donated a day’s pay and the church was rebuilt. Thirty years and a world war later, Bill’s division liberated the same town.
He told me about crossing the Atlantic during the war. The Queen Elizabeth I was the fastest ship afloat at the time and had been converted into a troop ship, Bill told me. “We had 24,000 men on board but bunks for only 12,000,” he continued. “We were divided into two shifts…half of us slept on deck and half down below. Twelve hours later, we traded places.”
Every three minutes the ship changed course to avoid German submarines. There was no naval escort. “Everyone got sea sick,” Bill added. “When you came up on deck, you brought only three things…your life preserver which substituted for a pillow, a mess kit and a blanket.”
Bill and Janice made trips to France and Germany in 2001, 200, and 2003, retracing the movements of the 26th Division. During World War II, it was part of General George Patton’s Third Army.
The 26th saw action in France, Germany and Austria. It liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. What horrors those men must have seen.
So I think of Bill Peischel and the veterans who served in World War II. He and his comrades continue to decorate the graves of American veterans. You can understand why author Tom Brokaw called Peischel’s generation, “The Greatest Generation.”
And now to the Relay for Life.
The sight of 1,500 luminaries must have struck you on the night of May 6. “Every luminary has a story that means something to someone,” Ed Scholl told me. He was the General Chairman for the Relay for Life event in Quakertown’s Memorial Park. The Relay raises awareness and money for the fight against cancer. “There are 4,500 Relays in America,” Ed continued. “More than 2,000 participated in the Relay this year!”
“And we had close to 10,000 colored paper flowers which the school children made,” he added. “Seven thousand of them represented Pennsylvania families with cancer diagnosed this year. Three thousand white flowers meant cancer deaths.” It made a dramatic, visual, and emotional impact.
At the opening ceremony, 60 children stood on the stage. Thirty committee members joined them, all wearing colored shirts. Ed told me that each represented 100 Pennsylvania families with a cancer story. There are 71,000 people newly diagnosed with cancer this year. An additional 29,000 will die this year.
Public and private schools from the three areas of Upper Bucks participated. Sue Quinque and Lynn Kraft, art teachers from the Quakertown school system provided the leadership.
I saw Quakertown Borough Manager Dave Woglom at the event. “It’s about good friends,” he observed about the Relay. And District Justice Bob Roth was working at one of the many stands. Quakertown Superintendent of schools, Jim Scanlon was there. So was Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree. Everyone turned out for the cause and the weather was perfect.
Some day cancer will be defeated. It will come faster if we keep the politicians out of science. Too many of them are erecting religious hurdles, which are slowing the fight against cancer. But that’s another story that will have to wait for another day.
In the meantime, congratulations are due to everyone who participated in the Relay for Life.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith