Cub Scouts take a break after marching in the Memorial Day Parade. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz) MORE PHOTOS
For many in Harvard, Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. The end of school is in sight. The town beach is open. And the ceremonies of the day offer a chance to get outdoors and tour the many memorials that stand as hallowed and silent reminders of transformative events that left their mark on previous generations of Harvard residents.
The weather this year did not disappoint. The skies were clear after days of showers and thunderstorms, and temperatures rose steadily throughout the morning.
Pancakes, sausage, and coffee
The day began as it always does with an 8 a.m. pancake breakfast at the Unitarian Fellowship Building and ended at around noon with the placing of geraniums at the graves of Harvard veterans in Bellevue cemetery. According to Dave Andrew of the Unitarian Church, over 100 residents attended the annual Memorial Day breakfast of coffee, orange juice, sausage and traditional yogurt pancakes. Late risers were still arriving as the Memorial Day parade, led by Dennis Lyddy, assembled at Town Hall. By the time the parade arrived at the Common, for an invocation and keynote address, the crowd had grown to nearly 200.
As in the past, the heart and soul of Harvard’s ceremonies were the visits by attendees to Harvard’s war memorials, and to the graves of townspeople who fought in wars ranging from the American Revolution and Civil War to World Wars I and II, Korea, and Vietnam.
Beginning at 9 a.m., a parade consisting of Harvard veterans, members of the town fire department, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary school band from Still River made its way from site to site, laying a wreath at each monument. Wreaths were laid at the Civil War monument; Founders’ Flagpole in the Town Center Cemetery; the combined World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War monument; and the World War I monument. At the Town Center and Bellevue cemeteries, a geranium was placed next to the grave of every veteran by members of Harvard’s Cub and Girl Scout troops, and other children attending the event. With each wreath laying, a member of the Nashoba Valley Concert Band played “Taps” to honor those who had given their lives.
As the parade approached the town center flagpole and World War I monument on the Common, marchers were serenaded with a medley of service songs performed by 20 members of the Nashoba Valley Concert Band, under the direction of John Blackwell. At the monument, retired U.S. Army Corporal Peter K. Johnston, a veteran of the Korean War, read the invocation. And retired U.S. Air Force Major Al Allard, of East Bare Hill Road, delivered a brief keynote.
Our common bond: freedom
“Though we may not share the same socioeconomic, educational, religious, or political backgrounds,” Allard told the gathering, “we do share a common bond—freedom.”
“Freedom is not free,” he said. “885,000 men and women, brothers and sisters perished so that we could use the word so many others can only dream of….Behind all of the soldiers that have made the ultimate sacrifice since 1775 there is a story….A story of families left behind, dreams that will never come true, and words left unspoken. Today we remember all of those brave Americans and the profound impact they have had on everything we hold dear.”
Following the keynote, Bromfield Senior Maddie Hettich tolled a bell as the name of each of the nine Harvard veterans who had passed away in 2012 was read aloud.
Among the veterans who took part in Memorial Day ceremonies this week were Karen and Dan Adams of Slough Road, who each laid a wreath at the Civil War and the combined World War II, Korea and Vietnam monuments, respectively. The couple met in the Army in the 1980s, they told the Press. Both served in the quartermaster service of the 18th Airborne Division, where they both attended jump school. According to Karen Adams, they spent their sixth wedding anniversary in the dust of Desert Storm. They have lived in Harvard for three years, and their two children attend Harvard schools. Karen Adams retired as an Army major after 10 years of active duty and another 10 in the Army Reserves. Dan Adams retired as a lieutenant colonel after 21 years of active duty, but continues to work as an Army civilian in Washington, D.C.
Peter Johnston, who delivered the invocation, is a Korean War veteran. He was drafted at age 23 and served three and one-half years of active duty as a member of the U.S. Army 504th support battalion, and then served an additional seven years as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, from which he retired with the rank of corporal. Johnston grew up on the former Griffin Farm on Ayer Road, he told the Press. When he was 18, he said, he and some of his friends had tried to enlist, during the waning years of WWII, but they were turned down because the country wanted to keep “the youngest farm boys” at home. Later, when he was drafted, he was assigned to a transportation unit along with other draftees from New England because of his familiarity with farm equipment, he said.
After the last ceremony at Bellevue Cemetery, participants and attendees scattered to take advantage of late spring weather. At the General Store, owner Scott Hayward was testing out hot dogs and burgers on a new outdoor grill. Bill Cory, formerly of Harvard, and his wife were raising money on behalf of the Salvation Army for victims of the recent Moore, Okla. tornado.
A new beach director
At the beach, open for the first time this year, there was little sign of activity. At 2:30 p.m. a tandem kayak could be seen making its way among the islands of Bare Hill Pond while a lone swimmer crawled toward the beach. Beach stickers were on sale earlier in the day, but by 3 p.m. the beach staff had been dismissed. Two couples basked in the sun, and a few children ventured into the water.
For new beach director Alexandra Luck, a 2002 Bromfield School graduate, Memorial Day weekend was her first on the job. Luck is a graduate of UMass Amherst and of the University of Michigan, where she earned her master’s degree.
She agreed the weekend had been a quiet one. “But it will get busier once school’s out,” she said.
