With American Legion Post 338 Commander Darcie Rock looking on, Gold Star Mother Shirley Odell places a wreath on Southwick’s War Memorial to remember all who served in the military on Veterans Day.
Reminder Publishing photo by Cliff Clark
SOUTHWICK — The over 100 community members who attended the Veterans Day ceremony at the town’s War Memorial were not deterred by the brisk winds, biting cold and light snow flurries on Nov. 11 to honor those who served the nation and its flag.
“This flag, Old Glory, is a visible sign of the life and liberties that we share and what bonds us as a nation,” Select Board member Diane Gale said looking to the flag whipping at half staff to mark the passing of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
“Her red, white and blue colors stand for valor and sacrifice, justice and freedom, vigilance and perseverance, virtues exemplified with this nation’s very beginnings, right here in Massachusetts with the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord. Those virtues remain linked to the service of those we honor today,” she said after a short parade that included military personnel representing all the branches of service, and Boy and Girl Scouts.
It also included Gold Star mother Shirley Odell, who lost her daughter, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Nancy R. Odell-Liupakka, in 1987 in Italy, who was bundled up to guard against the cold as she laid wreaths on the memorial.
The flag, Gale said, is an emblem for veterans of the life they lived in service, the home they fought for, and came back to and the values they upheld and defended.
“Your presence among us is a testament to a duty fulfilled,” Gale said. “We also hold in our hearts the family members, the spouses, parents and children, and the friends who supported you through deployments, endured long absences and also made enormous sacrifices.
“Your service ensures that we continue to live in the freedom that you protected and that our flag will always fly proudly over our town in this nation upholding the values that she represents, liberty and justice for all,” concluded Gale.
Leading the service was Matt Egerton, the former commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 872, who announced that the day before was the 250th anniversary of the establishment of the Continental Marines in 1775 and shared a story from World War II.
Egerton said that during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific Ocean, a Marine on night sentry duty heard someone approaching in the jungle and fired a few bursts from his machine gun.
A voice called out, Egerton said, “hold your fire. We are Americans. I am bringing in my platoon.”
The Marine responded by blasting away with the machine gun, which killed a Japanese patrol.
“When he was asked how he knew they were the enemy,” Egerton said. “the Marine explained that they were ‘too damned grammatical’ to be Marines.”
Darcie Rock, the commander of American Legion Post 338, recounted how Veterans Day came to be.
“In the year 1918, in the 11th month, on the 11th day and on the 11th hour over 100 years ago was the signing of an Armistice, a temporary cessation of hostility,” she said. “It was a Monday, Nov. 11, 1918, at 11 a.m. this was when all fighting ceased between the Allied nations and Germany, effectively ending World War I.”
The next year, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 as Armistice Day, which was replaced by the U.S. Congress in 1954 as Veterans Day, she said.
Rock said veterans represent a fundamental truth about America.
“It is not the powerful weapons that make our military the greatest in the world. It is not the sophisticated aircraft, the missiles, the rockets, the satellites or the cyber technology systems that make us the most advanced,” she said. “The two strengths of our military is the spirit and skill of our servicemen.”
She concluded her remarks by thanking every veteran.
“Veterans, you have done your duty to your families, to your communities, to your fallen comrades, and to your country. You have honorably served your nation with great distinction, and we can never say it enough. For your service in war and peace, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” she concluded.
