Veterans beautify Clairton Park
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
It’s important to Dustin Pierce to make sure he does his part to honor his comrades.
A U.S. Army veteran, Pierce works as a plant shift manager at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works.
He is also chairman of the Clairton Strengthening and Enhancing Relationships of Veteran Employees employee resource group, which is better known to steelworkers and Clairton residents as Clairton SERVE.
Pierce and his team have been collaborating with Clairton American Legion Post No. 75 Cmdr. Robert Haramia, a Vietnam War veteran, and other Post 75 members to beautify the Memorial Hill section of Clairton Park.
Earlier this week, Pierce and seven other steelworkers, dressed in bright orange mill safety clothes, pulled themselves away from the coke plant to place flags next to 73 temporary wooden crosses bearing the names of Clairton veterans.
Haramia said the temporary crosses were installed on Memorial Day.
The names of the 73 veterans used to appear on permanent markers that “were stolen over the years for whatever reason,” Haramia said.
He and Pierce are working to raise funds to purchase permanent polished granite memorials featuring the names of those veterans.
“These 73 guys haven’t been recognized in 20 to 30 years,” Haramia said.
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