NORTHAMPTON — The Central Hampshire Veterans Services in Northampton are calling out to the communities of Western Mass. in search of remaining World War II veterans as they are tentatively scheduling a ceremony in their honor for May to celebrate the incredible men and women who sacrificed so much to protect freedom and democracy eight decades ago.
Central Hampshire Veterans Services Officer Dan Nye told Reminder Publishing the call to the public is in part due to the challenge of tracking down those still living who served in World War II eight decades ago. With many living with family, in long-term care facilities or quietly having stepped away from the public eye, it has been a challenge to identify those still living and, as Nye pointed out all too often, they are not learned about until it’s too late.
“Honestly it came from the fact that in the veteran’s community you start to look around now and you realize all of a sudden, [World War II Veterans are] almost entirely gone,” Nye said. “Despite being a veteran service office, we don’t have comprehensive lists about the veterans who live in our communities. Looking at that and thinking about the fact that we don’t see them anymore and the youngest of them would now be 98 years old — it struck me that it would be a pretty big injustice to that generation and everything that they did to kind of look around one day and realize, wow that was the last one, and we didn’t do anything about it.”
Central Hampshire Veterans Services is asking the public to spread the word amongst their communities in an effort to connect with potential World War II veterans in the region. If you know a living World War II veteran in Western Mass., you can contact Nye at the Central Hampshire Veterans Services at vetadmin@northamptonma.gov or 413-587-1299.
“Your support in spreading the word can make all the difference in ensuring these veterans receive the recognition they deserve. Thank you for your continued dedication to our community — we look forward to hearing from you,” Central Hampshire Veterans Services said in a statement.
Nye, an army veteran himself, said tentative plans are for a May ceremony to honor any living World War II vets in the region. He estimated there could be as many as 20 World War II vets living within the larger communities in the region while more rural towns may have little to no remaining veterans within the community. One way to find out for sure though is with the public’s help.
“It’s not intentional, obviously. When folks either go into long term care facilities or end up in family homes until they pass, they’re not visible within the communities. Really what it’s going to come down to is how many folks we’re able to locate and the community buy in,” Nye said.
Nye said early communications within the veteran’s community and among the public have already indicated to him an eagerness from people ready to help contribute to the search.
“The biggest hurdle is just identifying them and determining exactly how many we have and that would dictate the scale of what we do. Ideally bring them together and honor their service,” Nye added. “Ideally, we don’t want this to be a veterans event in the sense that it’s veterans getting together to honor the veterans. We obviously want our part in it, but the other aspect is bringing members of the community — whether that’s scouts or school musical groups — so that particularly the younger generation gets the opportunity to maybe meet and interact and see this generation before they’re gone.”
Nye hopes to see the greater Western Mass. community rally behind this cause and contribute to these efforts of locating living World War II veterans in the region. He added that this potential ceremony was important for the military cultural aspect of honoring such giants of American sacrifice and service, but that the community could also find a new connection with a generation that has been around for around 100 years.
“These are folks we look back to whether that’s outside or inside the military as an example to follow,” Nye said. “From a community perspective, I obviously want the opportunity for everybody to do that, but on a personal level, it’s something that if I have the power to do it, I want to make sure that I have the opportunity to contribute to it.”
