Sunday, May 30, 2010
Memorial Day
We’re a forgetful bunch, we the free that is; those of us that escaped the cruelty of war. Oh sure, there are plenty of us that remember those that died for us. Some of us, especially those that war has touched personally, probably remember too much and try to forget, and can’t. Then there are those that are oblivious to what Memorial Day is all about. How many of us will raise a nice cold beverage to our lips this weekend and remember that others have died for us, and still do? How many of us will be too busy this weekend to clean up a fallen hero’s grave because we want our own slice of freedom to be manicured.
Here in Weymouth, Massachusetts, we erect tributes to our war dead so we can’t forget, like that “Cross Of Gray” that stands on the knoll beside our town hall. You know, the one that was placed there 80 years ago so the children going to school there, yes the Abigail Adams School, would never forget that there are those that have died for our freedom. I’m sure their teachers remind them of it every Memorial Day.
Right down the street there is Legion Memorial Field, named as such so that we would never forget the Weymouth boys that died in the First World War. We used to march by there every Memorial Day, but now we avoid it because, well, we just can’t afford to care for our tributes to the fallen like we used to.
We recently remembered one of our heroes, Richard Canova, who was killed in Vietnam by naming the corner of Susan Road and Thicket Street for him. Hopefully, 60 years from now when the sign that bears his name has weathered and his family has long since moved on, we can still remember him. The next street over, Elmer Road, is named for Elmer J. Hollis. He graduated from Weymouth High School in 1939 and became a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army’s Air Force. He was co-piloting a B-24 Liberator when it was shot down over Europe in 1944. There might have been a sign there once to remind us of his heroism but nobody remembers, and it doesn’t seem that important any more.
There used to be a sign for George Nesbitt at the beginning of Thicket Street, where it meets Pond Street. He had lived on Pond Street and was part of a machine gun battalion in World War I. He was shot multiple times during the U. S. Army’s Meuse-Argonne Offensive in 1918. George clung to life for a month before finally giving in to his wounds. He never came home and is buried in an American cemetery in France.
Parker Jones lived on Pond Street too. The intersection of Pond and Route 18 is named for him. They must have forgotten to replace the sign that bore his name when they reconstructed the intersection. Just an oversight no doubt, after all how important could it be to remember that Lieutenant Jones also died for us in 1918. He and George were probably friends but nobody remembers. At least he got to come home, almost four years after he was killed in action over in France. He’s buried in Hingham somewhere. Hopefully somebody remembers to place a flag at his grave this Memorial Day.
This article was posted by Stanley Ramon on May 30, 2010
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