BURLINGTON FLATS _ Memorial Day will cut deeply this year in Burlington Flats, a community that lost Cpl. Michael L. Mayne on Feb. 23 while he was on patrol in Balad, Iraq.
For decades, Burlington Flats has had Memorial Day celebrations, but Monday's 1:30 p.m. parade may be the biggest in years, as people come from near and far to honor this fallen soldier.
Mayne, 21, was a 2006 graduate of Edmeston Central School.
Popular and fun-loving, he's remembered for his quick wit and the off-key ditties he invented to amuse his friends.
He was restless, energetic and liked to be outdoors _ hunting, driving, on the move.
He owned a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, a Dodge Ram pickup, and when he was headed your way on a country road, you heard him coming from quite a distance, according to his minister, the Rev. Jay Henderson of the Burlington Flats Baptist Church.
The son of Lee and Cathy Mayne, he grew up across from that church in a house that overlooks the green where state Route 51 curves around Burlington Flats Veterans Memorial Park. In the park are monuments, tributes to local residents who served in the military during the nation's wars.
Near the park's center is an American flag, and when Mayne was an Eagle Scout in Troop 9, he determined that six more flags, one for each branch of the U.S. military, should flank the Stars and Stripes.
The flags fly there now, symbols of national pride and one young man's unvarnished patriotism.
``I like to think we raised him right,'' his father said this week.
Of that there is no doubt, according to Otsego County Rep. Betty Anne Schwerd, R-Burlington, and further proof will be the large gathering at the park for Monday's parade and festivities.
``I think this will be our biggest celebration ever,'' said Schwerd.
State Sen. James Seward, R-Milford, and state Assemblyman Bill Magee, D-Nelson, plan to be there, she noted.
Before the Burlington Flats parade starts, West Edmeston, at 9 a.m., and Edmeston, at 11 a.m., will have parades and activities.
``Many people go to all three parades, and they keep getting bigger,'' said Gretchen Belden, a teacher at Great Beginnings Pre-School at the Burlington Flats Baptist Church.
``A lot of parents in the area want to be involved this year because of Michael,'' said Tiffany Henderson, who also teaches at Great Beginnings. ``We're going to have several floats in the parade.''
Veterans, bands, and fire departments are expected to turn out in force.
Every year at Burlington Flats, two second-grade ECS students recite John McCrea's World War I poem, ``In Flanders Field.''
This year, that honor falls to Caprice Kellogg and Emily Arnold.
Eighth-grader Collin Slattery will recite the Gettysburg Addresss, and 12th-grader Emily Bliss will deliver the senior speech.
``It is about Michael, and I want to relate the present to the past,'' said Bliss, editor of the school's yearbook.
Another portion of the program, the rededication of Pvt. R. Sherrill Hull's plaque, also ties eras together.
Hull, who grew up in the same house as Michael Mayne, was lost at sea in World War II when the troop ship he was aboard, the USS Dorchester, was sunk.
``That was Feb. 3, 1943,'' said Mary Lou Dauchy, ``and like Michael Mayne, Sherrill was just 21.''
Hull's sisters, Margery Hull Holdridge and Nordica Hull Holochuck, were part of the program when Hull was honored in 1947. On Monday, some 62 years later, they plan to lay a wreath to honor his memory, said Dauchy.
Cathy Mayne, representing the Gold Star Mothers, will lay a wreath in her son's memory.
And Lee Mayne said a monument to Michael Mayne also will grace the park, although it may not be installed before Monday.
``We've just finished drawing the money out of his bank accounts, and this seemed like the way we should spend it,'' he said. ``He was a wonderful son.''
