Published September 30, 2020

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The Board of Selectmen took no action last week on a citizens’ petition seeking to expand the existing War Memorial on the Town Common.

The selectmen approved a design for a new War Memorial in December 2017. After reviewing design proposals from War Memorial Committee members Joe Connell, Paul Donato and John Harrigan, the selectmen unanimously supported Connell’s design concept.

As part of Connell’s proposal, the new War Memorial would be constructed across the street from the Town Common on the green space adjacent to South Common Street. The existing memorial on the Town Common will remain in place.

Donato, who is the commander of American Legion Post 131, presented a citizens’ petition to the selectmen seeking to abandon the current design’s plans and in turn expand the existing War Memorial on the Common.

“It’s important for all veterans who entered military service to be listed on the memorial,” said Donato. “There are wars and veterans not included. It needs to be updated. Our veterans are highly worthy of this effort.”

Donato said “hundreds” of residents signed the petition. He said the people who signed the petition want to keep the existing War Memorial on the Town Common.

“Many veterans who signed the petition are listed on the current memorial or are eligible to be listed,” said Donato. “Some of those veterans were awarded combat decorations such as a Purple Heart or Silver Star. Others who indicated their support to keep the memorial on the Common are family members of deceased veterans who are listed on the existing memorial.”

Donato said he has reached out to a monument company that “comes highly recommended by other communities.”

“We have the opportunity to preserve, enhance and celebrate Lynnfield’s veterans on our own iconic and distinctive Lynnfield Common,” said Donato. “Let us embrace our past, our history and our tradition. Let us not erase or leave behind the historic War Memorial.”

Donato said he has developed a “design concept” for the proposed new memorial that would “integrate the existing memorial into the updated memorial.” He said the portion of the Town Common that is along Main Street has “more than enough space” to accommodate expanding the current War Memorial.

“On a relatively small footprint, we can honor our past, present and future veterans of Lynnfield while maintaining our unique identity,” said Donato. “Once the $200,000 renovation of the Common is complete, the Common will be the star of the community. Our veterans’ memorial must be an integral component of that.”

Connell, who was recently named as the War Memorial Committee’s chairman, said the WMC has pledged it “would not change or alter” the existing War Memorial on the Common. He also said the WMC is against building a new memorial on the Town Common because “it would change the fabric of the town.”

“We use the Common for a lot of things,” said Connell. “If we built the new War Memorial on the Common, it would expand significantly and it would change what the Common was about. It would be tough to have our concerts there.”

Connell said the proposed design that Donato created has not been presented to the WMC.

“We have voted internally three times to keep the memorial on the site that was approved by the selectmen, which is in front of the Rideout house,” said Connell.

Connell said the WMC has hired an architect, who has completed 35 percent of the new War Memorial’s design.

“I am not sure why we would want to change at this point right now,” said Connell. “The design that we have has been approved several times. We have met for three years now and I would not recommend changing the plans at the 11th hour.”

Connell said the new War Memorial’s design will have a walk of fame that will include the names of veterans from town.

“I think this should be a stand-alone memorial site,” said Connell.

Selectman Dick Dalton said the dispute between Donato and the War Memorial Committee is unfortunate.

“I am disappointed that our veterans don’t have a consensus on this,” said Dalton. “Everybody wants to appropriately honor our veterans and it is certainly difficult to do so when we don’t have a consensus amongst the group we seek to honor.”

Selectman Phil Crawford asked Connell if the WMC wants to keep the existing War Memorial on the Common.

Connell said the existing memorial will remain on the Common. He said the new memorial’s design will be completely different than the existing War Memorial.

“The design that we have would go from 1776 to the current wars we are in right now in Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Connell. “Anyone who served from Lynnfield will have their name on a plaque. No other memorial that I have gone to would have this level of detail. We will have a narrative of the war, a map of the war and anyone from Lynnfield who served in the military would have their name on the wall.”

In response to a question from Dalton, Donato claimed there will be certain criteria in order for a veteran’s name to be listed on the War Memorial.

“We object to that exception,” said Donato. “It’s not appropriate and not consistent.”

Connell said the WMC has not established any criteria for listing names on the new memorial.

“Lynnfield residents belong on that and that’s it,” said Connell.

Veterans’ Services Officer Bruce Siegel, who also serves on the WMC, said the committee met with local officials on the Town Common recently. He said they all supported building the new War Memorial across the street.

“It was voted on and approved,” said Siegel. “End of story.”

After the discussion, Selectmen Chairman Chris Barrett thanked Donato for presenting the petition to the board.

“We want to do what is right for the community’s veterans and we would like to see a positive conclusion to this,” said Barrett. “This is our community’s effort to honor all of the men and women from the town of Lynnfield who served in the military.”

WMC resignation

The selectmen also accepted former WMC Chairman Jason Kimball’s resignation from the committee. Kimball is a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the Global War on Terrorism.

“I would like to thank Jason for his service and dedication to the town of Lynnfield,” said Barrett.

Kimball told the Villager it was an honor serving on the War Memorial Committee.

“As the founder and former chair of the War Memorial Committee, my vision for this project was to honor all the veterans of Lynnfield,” said Kimball. “I am confident the committee will continue to work together to achieve this goal.”