Fayette City plans program to observe Memorial Day
An area physician who served with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard in Iraq will be a part of traditional Memorial Day services in Fayette City. Lt. Col. Paul N. Cervone, M.D., will be the keynote speaker at the 11 a.m. program Monday, May 31, at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Brownstown. The annual observance is sponsored and presented by Brightwell-Daugherty, Post 484 of the American Legion in Fayette City.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Cervone will participate in this year’s program”, Nelson Smith, Post 484 commander, said. “He has brought honor to the community and to his family during his distinguished military career and in life”
A parade in downtown Fayette City beginning at 10 a.m. will precede the program at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
The line of march will be led by the Post 484 Honor Guard and also will include participation by the Belle Vernon Area High School Band, World War II military vehicles, Fayette City Volunteer Fire Department and other local residents. In the event of inclement weather, the program will be moved from the cemetery to the Fayette City Alliance Church in Brownstown.
Cervone, a resident of Rostraver Township, recently completed a lengthy tour of duty in Iraq, during which he served as brigade flight surgeon of the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade. In doing so, he utilized more than 20 years of experience as a physician.
He is an obstetrician/-gynecologist on staff at Monongahela Valley Hospital and a partner in Valley Women’s Health, which has offices on the campus of MVH and at Willow Point Plaza in Rostraver.
As brigade flight surgeon on his deployment to Iraq, Cervone was the senior aviation medical consultant in Multi-National Division-South, the lar-gest sector in Iraq.
His duties included:
n Advising commanders in his area of operations on any medical issues involving aviators, crew chiefs and personnel who support them.
n Supervising and training physicians, physician assistants and medics who provide emergency and primary care to U.S. soldiers.
n Flying missions with air assault, troop transport and MEDEVAC helicopter crews in the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade.
One of the unit’s major accomplishments was establishing a new troop medical center named the Guardian Aero Medical Clinic.
Physicians usually deploy for only 90 days on such missions, but Cervone volunteered for a total of 16 months. He did so to respond to the critical need for experienced medical providers.
Cervone, 48, prepared for deployment to Iraq in training at Fort Indian-town Gap in Annville, near Hershey; Fort Rucker in Alabama; Fort Sill in Oklahoma, and Camp Buehring in Kuwait.
He and his wife have been married 26 years and are the parents of three children – Eric, 22, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh this month and will be attending Notre Dame Law School in the Fall; Nikki, 20, who is majoring in English and education at Duquesne University; Joseph, 18, who will be graduated from Belle Vernon Area High School this month and will be attending Pitt in the fall with a major in pre-emergency medicine.