By Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
On Memorial Day, Westwood celebrated those who gave their lives in service to our country with a festive parade along High Street and a solemn ceremony at the New Cemetery.
On the clear, sunny morning, adults, kids, teens, and seniors assembled along the parade route in anticipation of the parade. Soon the lively parade began. Grand Marshall Dick Paster rode in a vintage auto. Gold Star family Chrissie Devlin and her husband Jerry Crescenzo also rode by. The marchers included Girl Scout troops, a Scout troop, two bands, and Fire and Police. Other parade participants included PMC bike riders, the Department of Public Works, the library’s bookmobile, several shiny classic cars, the Recreation Department, town officials, and Fr. Matthew Norwood of St. Jude’s Parish. The National Society Sons of the American Revolution Colonel Henry Know Artillery Regiment, dressed in revolutionary garb, surprised the spectators by firing an ear-splitting volley with their muskets. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution rode by, also in period dress.
The ceremony held on the verdant grounds of the New Cemetery was emceed by Chris McKeown.
Gold Star family Chrissie Devlin and her husband Jerry Crescenzo participated in honor of Chrissie’s brother. Lance Corporal Micheal Devlin was tragically killed in 1983 while a member of a peacekeeping force at Beirut International Airport. A suicide bomber drove a truck into his group’s barracks in a tragic incident in which 241 U.S. service members were killed.
Master Gunnery Sergeant Dan Clark proudly sang each of the U.S. service branches’ songs and “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and Poet Laureate Beth Swinning and Youth Poet Laureate Elizabeth Lowney recited moving poems written especially for the occasion. Ava Rooney read the Gettysburg Address.
The Chair of the Select Board, Rob Gotti, spoke of the challenges and battles faced by World War II service members. He emphasized that those service members and all others in our country’s history were united by “a common thread…an oath to support and defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic and bear true faith and allegiance to the same.” In World War II, Nationalism and fascism in Italy, Germany, and Japan waged war with “no boundaries of morality,” as shown in the murders of so many in the death camps discovered late in the war. Gotti said that “freedom triumphed over tyranny and evil” and reminded listeners that the world of 2025 will be judged by history. Gotti emphasized that we must study what happened in the past to prevent dishonoring the “sacrifice of the soldiers” in earlier times.
After Gotti’s speech, Grand Marshall Commander Dick Paster spoke of the 50th anniversary, on April 30 of this year, of the end of the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975. He said he didn’t hear much about it in the media. The war was unpopular in the U.S., and Vietnam veterans were looked down on until the early 1990s, when the Vietnam Wall Memorial was built as the first national recognition of their service.
State Representative Paul McMurty spoke of the duty to assemble publicly each year on Memorial Day in a sincere heartfelt tribute to veterans who perished in service. And Commander Michael Rush praised those who “acted selflessly for our democracy and way of life.”
After a moment of silence, the American flags were raised, Sergent Dan Clark sang the national anthem, and veterans fired a three-volley salute. Hank Murray played Taps, and then Tom McFlintock played his bagpipes, while young girls decorated the graves of veterans.
