The Tamaqua 2020 Memorial Day Parade and 152nd annual Service of Remembrance have been canceled.

However, a recorded service will be released on both the Tamaqua Remembers YouTube channel and its Facebook page on May 25 at 11 a.m.

Participants have recorded their roles from significant locations throughout the area. The service, meant to honor all deceased veterans, will feature the traditional reading of the names of our deceased veterans who have passed away since last Memorial Day’s remembrance. This year, the roll call will be read by Tamaqua area residents.

Brian Dahm of Brockton has been named grand marshal, and featured speaker Sgt. James E. Frederickson will bring his address from his home in Arlington, Virginia. The color guard of the American Legion, C.H. Berry Post No. 173, Tamaqua will render honors.

Other participants include the Rev. James Williams, Poppy Queen Emily Beltz, BPW Women of the Year award recipient Sarah McCabe, Tamaqua Mayor Nathan Gerace, and soloists Joseph Mehalko and Emily Barrett.

Frederickson was raised in Andreas and is a 2005 graduate of Tamaqua Area High School. Immediately after graduation, he enlisted in the United States Army, where he attended Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Upon completion, he was awarded the Military Occupational Specialty 35F Intelligence Analyst.

In 2008, Frederickson deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he served as the 744th Military Police Battalion intelligence section sergeant and lead analyst at Camp Cropper, a Theater Internment Facility in western Baghdad.

Frederickson graduated from West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 2012, but volunteered to deploy two additional times as a contracted analyst supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. In 2013, Frederickson deployed to Afghanistan, where he traveled across Regional Command-East as a member of Task Force 2010.

In 2014, he deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan, supporting the 10th Mountain Division. By the end of his 12-year military career, he had received seven military achievement awards and eight service medals.

Frederickson moved to Northern Virginia in 2015 and became a police officer/SWAT operator with the Arlington County Police Department. In 2018, Frederickson left policing to resume his career as an intelligence analyst and worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency before landing his current position at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

In 2019, Frederickson married his wife, Amanda McCall, formerly of Lake Hauto. The couple has adopted two rescue dogs, Camden and Charlotte. Frederickson regularly attends the wreath laying ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.

This year’s Poppy Queen is Emily Beltz, daughter of Richard and Jennifer Beltz of Tamaqua. She is the granddaughter of Richard and Loretta Beltz of Quakake and Greg and the late Kay Hartshorne of Tamaqua. Emily is a fifth-grade honors student at the Tamaqua Elementary School. She is a member of the Tamaqua Elementary Band and the Junior Auxiliary of the Tamaqua American Legion where she can often be found helping with Legion events.

The Tamaqua Business and Professional Women’s Club Young Woman of the Year award recipient is Sarah McCabe. Sarah is a senior at Tamaqua Area High School and is the daughter of James and Angela (Marchetti) McCabe of Brockton. She will attend Lehigh Carbon Community College followed by Kutztown University for Business Management. Sarah is a member of the Raider Marching Band, Step-Up Tamaqua, Tamaqua Lady Raiders Soccer, and the National Honor Society.

The Rev. Jim Williams was born in Queens, New York, and has been serving at Zion Church of Lewistown Valley for seven years. He graduated from Millersville University with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

Williams’ first call was to Phoenixville, and has since served in Georgia, California and Virginia. He has also taken part in two mission trips to Brazil. Williams is married to the former Eileen Noecker, who is the owner/operator of the Cake Pros in Schuylkill Haven. They are the parents of five adult children and live in Orwigsburg with their two dogs and lots of flowers.

Brian Dahm is a native of Tuscarora. He is a member of the class of 1960 (the last graduating class of Tamaqua High School) and enlisted in the United States Navy at 17 years old. Brian served on the USS Mosopelea during the Vietnam era and was aboard that ship at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, during both the Cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Dahm returned to Tuscarora after his military service to work in the strip mines and, later, for Bradley Codwell Warehouse in Hazleton. He and his wife, Lucy (nee Smerlick) live in Brockton, and they have one adult daughter, Maryann Patricia Baddick.