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7/4/2009 2:10 PM

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CANONSBURG – The summer sun broke a streak of rainy gloom Saturday morning, and that was enough to put thousands of parade-goers in festive mood at the 47th annual Fourth of July parade.

From fez-topped Shriners to veterans from the 40&8 organization operating a makeshift locomotive, more than a thousand participants were on the march along Adams Avenue and Pike Street as even more thousands watched.

A calliope played and a box boomed “Beat It” as the silver-gloved junior cheerleaders of Chartiers-Houston paid tribute to the late singer Michael Jackson. A spectator broke into an impromptu moonwalk on the sidewalk as tailgaters applauded.

It was America’s 233rd birthday party, and lest anyone forget the cost of freedom, Bob Williams, 84, of Canonsburg was among those who serve as a living reminder.

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“Sixty-four years ago today, I was shot in the hand at Saipan,” he said, recalling a World War II injury he received in the Pacific Theater. “I didn’t get the Purple Heart because I refused to go to the aid station. I just stayed right on the front lines.”

A grenade blasted him three days later and Williams was hospitalized for an entire year. His second injury occurred just two days before the island was secure.

In the throes of combat, how would a soldier or sailor know it was a holiday?

“Somebody came by and said it was the Fourth of July,” Williams said. “On the front lines for 20-some days, one day was just like another.”

See Sunday’s Observer-Reporter for more parade coverage.

© 2009 Observer Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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