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Attendees at the Upper Saucon Memorial Day event gather for a photograph that was taken from above by a drone.

The meaning of Memorial Day was impressed upon attendees at the 11th annual Memorial Day 2-Mile Walk/Bike/Run at Upper Saucon Township Community Park Monday, where veterans, police, first responders and local residents gathered to recognize the service of all Americans and one local man in particular who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending their country.

“Everyone knows Memorial Day…but they don’t know why,” said Gold Star Mother Ruth Harton, whose son Cpl. Joshua Harton’s sacrifice in Afghanistan was remembered by the participants in the ceremony that preceded the rail trail walk.

Joshua Harton was a Sellersville native who joined the Army shortly before his 21st birthday in 2007. He served a tour in Iraq before voluntarily extending his service in 2009 so he could continue serving with his battalion in Afghanistan. Based at Forward Operating Base Griffin, he was killed in an attack by insurgents on Sept. 18, 2010, a few months before he was scheduled to return home and pursue a career in law enforcement.

Joshua Harton is pictured above dressed in Medieval garb, which he wore as a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. The Sellersville native enjoyed learning about Medieval culture and weaponry, his mother Ruth recalled.

“He led his life with loyalty…and personal courage,” said event organizer Ryan Werling. “In the last seconds of his life, he died defending (his fellow soldiers).”

With the rapid spread of information via social media, the reason Memorial Day exists has been lost and often confused with Veterans Day in recent years, Werling said. One of the goals of the annual Upper Saucon event is to educate younger generations about who is being honored and remembered on the holiday, which also marks the unofficial start of summer.

Local children and teens participated in the Upper Saucon Township Memorial Day event by honoring and remembering Cpl. Joshua A. Harton and his sacrifice. They did this by reading parts of his biography and memories shared by friends and fellow soldiers. Harton was killed in Afghanistan in September 2010 while on an extended tour of duty with the 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) based in Fort Drum, N.Y.

A number of children and teens participated in Monday’s ceremony by reading parts of Joshua Harton’s biography, and dozens more were present in the audience that numbered in the hundreds. Attendees were also given tags that bore the names of Pennsylvanians who have died in service to the United States, including many people from the local area. Werling encouraged them to research the names of those people and learn about their sacrifices, in order to better understand the meaning of Memorial Day.

Joshua Harton was remembered as a devoted son and friend who was a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism; an organization whose members study and recreate Medieval European life via reenactments. He was also an Airsoft enthusiast and was passionate about Transformers, his mother recalled, noting that he and another soldier who routinely argued about them were once ordered by their commanding officer to hold hands for 24 hours as a way of getting past their disagreement.

Above, Ruth Harton addresses a crowd of hundreds who gathered for a Memorial Day run/walk that honored her son, Cpl. Joshua Harton, in Upper Saucon Township Community Park Monday. Harton was only 23 when he made the ultimate sacrifice while serving on an extended tour in Afghanistan in 2010. Joshua Harton was a 50 cal. rear gunner in his platoon when they were attacked by insurgents, and was the only member of the platoon killed in the attack. Reflecting on her son’s decision to extend his tour and continue serving with his Army unit, Ruth Harton said that “he didn’t have to. He just wanted to.”

Ruth Harton explained the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day by telling attendees that those who are remembered on Memorial Day never had the chance to become veterans, because they never came home.

“When (Joshua’s battalion) came back in March we celebrated his life, and that’s what you should be doing today,” she said.

After sharing her memories of her son with the audience, Ruth Harton was invited up front by Werling, who was joined by Tails of Valor Paws of Honor Executive Director Heather Lloyd, who presented her with a six-week-old puppy named Joshua Harton.

Tails of Valor Paws of Honor Executive Director Heather Lloyd speaks at the Memorial Day event in Upper Saucon Township, where she presented Gold Star Mother Ruth Harton with a puppy named after her son, Cpl. Joshua Harton (1986-2010), who made the ultimate sacrifice during Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The dog will be trained to provide cannine support services to help veterans, former law enforcement or emergency service providers with post-traumatic growth.

Over the next two years, the dog will be trained to provide free canine support services to a veteran, law enforcement officer or emergency service provider who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress injury or traumatic brain injury.

Headquartered in the Coopersburg area, Tails of Valor Paws of Honor is a nonprofit organization founded by Lloyd that has been providing trained support dogs to help individuals with post-traumatic growth for 11 years, Lloyd said.

At the event, there was a booth set up where attendees could learn more about the organization and its mission.

Ruth Harton is handed the puppy named after her son, Joshua Harton.

“Thank you for raising a hero,” she told Ruth Harton.

After a performance of Taps, attendees gathered underneath a fluttering American flag suspended from the ladder of an Upper Saucon Township Fire Co. truck for a drone photo, before beginning the 2-mile run/walk on the Saucon Rail Trail.