PEOPLE AT THE VietnamVeterans Reflection Area brick dedication. (Neil Zolot Photo)
By NEIL ZOLOT
MELROSE — A new Gold Star Families Memorial was unveiled during Memorial Day weekend ceremonies on the hill of the Knoll on Lynn Fells Parkway across from the High School and Veterans Memorial Middle School Sunday morning, May 26.
“We remember our Gold Star Families as well as our fallen heroes so those left behind can find peace and understanding of their sacrifice,” Veterans Advisory Board chairman and recently retired member of the Army National Guard Robert Driscoll said. “For the rest of us here, Memorial Day comes once a year. For Gold Star Families every day is Memorial Day. We can never thank them enough, but hopefully this memorial can say what words cannot.”
“This is amazing and a place I can come and reflect,” Kathy Childress said. She is the widow of Oliver Childress, a Vietnam veteran who died two years of various issues related to his service. She is also a veteran of the Army, having worked with personal records.
“This is great,” Wakefield Veterans Advisory Board member and resident and member of Gold Star Wives of America Pam Hart agreed. “No one really knows what Gold Star Families are. I lost an uncle in North Korea, so I knew, but you don’t see many Gold Star Family monuments.”
Her husband Donald was a Vietnam veteran who died from complications due to exposure to Agent Orange.
Woburn resident Robin Abbott of the Gold Star Mothers of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and Melrose Veterans Advisory Board member and Army National Guard veteran Leo Boudreau also spoke about the history and importance of Gold Star Families and steps to honor them. “The nation recognizes no one has given more than the families of veterans,” Boudreau said. “The pain of losing a loved one never goes away, but we can make sure we recognize their sacrifice.”
Driscoll thanked Melrose Veterans Advisory Board member and Marine veteran Michael Buggy for his work on the Gold Star Families Memorial, one of an ongoing series of projects for the Knoll. “The Advisory Board is always thinking about projects, planning them and raising funds,” Buggy said. “This was the result of planning and construction over 14 months. It’s a continuation of what we’ve done. The families of veterans play a big part, if not bigger part, when there’s a deceased veteran or someone on active duty. It’s critical the families are recognized.”
His son Caron offered prayers at the Gold Star Families Memorial Dedication and the Vietnam Veterans Reflection Area Brick Dedication that preceded it. “These honored dead gave the ultimate sacrifice of life itself,” he said at the Gold Star Families Memorial. “Let us never forget those who paid such a price for our freedom.”
Melrose Director of Veterans Services and Army veteran Roseann Trionfi-Mazuchelli added the Knoll is next to the largest veterans memorial in the city, the Veterans Memorial Middle School and the Gold Star Families Memorial is at the top of the Knoll’s hill “for two reasons. It represents the highest sacrifice a family can make and is the closest point to their loved ones in heaven.”
At the earlier ceremony Army Vietnam veteran Jim Muschette read the names of military personnel for whom commemorative or honorary bricks were purchased for a brick American flag, including his own grandson C.J. Muschette now in the Army at Fort Bragg.
The Star Spangled Banner was sung by High School students Julia Lanneville and Paige Trenouth.
Former interim mayor Gail Infurna played Taps, as she has for many years. “It’s something I can do for those who gave their lives for our country,” she said.
Among those attending were City Councilors Mark Garipay and Robb Stewart, State Senator Jason Lewis, State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian, Police Chief Kevin Faller and former Mayor Paul Brodeur. “The Knoll is the memorial for all military services and I came to support the veterans and remember their sacrifice,” Garipay said.
Stewart called the dedication of bricks at the Vietnam Veterans Reflection Area Brick Memorial “a great addition” to the Knoll.
“I came out of respect for those who served in the armed forces and made the ultimate sacrifice for our country,” Lewis said.
Lipper-Garabedian called Memorial Day “an important time for our country to gather and reflect on the sacrifice of those who served our country and those who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Both legislators attended similar ceremonies in Wakefield the next day.
Ceremonies at the Knoll were followed by a brief laying of flowers at the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial across Eli Pond on Main Street and a reception at the V.F.W. Norman Prince Post on Main Street downtown.
