A grand time in Waynesburg
The two women who served as grand marshals in Waynesburg’s Veterans Day Parade Nov. 4 aren’t just any female veterans.
Linda Hagyari, a Vietnam War Army veteran who served two years at Fort Meyers, Va., working the switchboards and handling classified information, was in 2021 elected the first female post commander of American Legion Post 954 in Jefferson, Pa. Her co-marshal, Julia “Julie” Plasko, is a Nemacolin native who served as a Specialist X in the U.S. Navy during World War II and earned the WWII Victory Ribbon and the American Campaign Ribbon.
Hagyari’s parade chauffeur was her husband Larry Hagyari. Plasko, who celebrates her 103rd birthday on Nov. 22, was driven by Don Zinn.



