— PHOTOS —
The sun smiled on Harvard’s Memorial Day ceremonies May 26 as warmer temperatures brought out a crowd of more than 100 people to the Common to remember Harvard residents who died while serving in the United States armed forces. The march from Town Hall to seven of the town’s memorials and cemeteries included veterans, firefighters, EMTs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary school band.
For many people, the morning began with a pancake breakfast at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall. “It’s about community,” said Greg Stoddard, who has taken a lead role in organizing the breakfast for the past four years. His goal, he said, is to encourage people to mix, talk with one another, and make new acquaintances-—especially across generations.
The early arrivals at 8 a.m. faced a daunting quantity of pancakes, sausage, fruit, and more. But as people drifted in, the mountain of food dwindled. By 9 a.m., every table was full, and the kitchen staff was working hard to keep the pancakes coming. And, as the breakfast drew to a close at 9:30 a.m., the sound of drums signaled that marchers were assembling near Town Hall for the parade.
The veterans in the color guard represented several branches of the military. They were led by Air Force veteran Jon Schoenberg. The largest contingent were veterans of the Army: Daniel Adams, Karen Adams, Steven Colwell, Nancy Cronin, Ralph Fehlberg, and Carl Sciple. The Navy was also well represented by veterans Steve Dakin, Fred Hinchliffe, and Lorin Johnson. Coast Guard veteran Jeff Boudreau, James Nigzus of the National Guard, and Mike Detillion, Harvard’s veterans’ agent, completed the roster.
The parade began promptly at 10 a.m. At the first stop on the parade route, the Civil War memorial, James Nigzus read General John Logan’s 1868 order establishing May 30 as a day to “decorate the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country” during the Civil War. Carl Sciple laid a wreath at the monument as trumpet player Benjamin Evanoski played taps. As he finished, a second trumpet player, Maria DosSantos, played the notes again from a distance, a custom known as echo taps. Later in the ceremonies, Lauren McKeever also played taps.
The marchers then moved on to the Founders memorial in the Center Cemetery, where Fred Hinchliffe laid a wreath, and the trumpeters repeated their performance, as they did at each stop. Next was the memorial on the Common for veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War, where Veterans’ Agent Mike Detillion placed a wreath.
The main ceremony was held a few steps away at the World War I monument, where Jon Schoenberg read a prayer, Steve Colwell laid a wreath, and the crowd sang along as the band played the national anthem. Next on the program was a medley of songs from the various branches of the military, including the Navy’s “Anchors Aweigh,” the Army’s “Caissons Go Rolling Along,” the Marines’ “From the Halls of Montezuma,” and the Air Force’s “Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder.”
The ceremony’s keynote speaker was retired Lt. Col. Daniel Adams of Slough Road. Adams, whose 24 years in the Army included Operation Desert Storm, spoke about 11 men from Harvard who joined the 36th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. “They were ordinary citizens who rose to extraordinary purpose. Some never returned. Others returned changed,” he said.
Adams then read the names of the 11 men, including Edward Allen, 23, a marble worker who died of disease during the war; William Dunn, 18, who was killed in action at Cold Harbor; Edward Stacey, 20, a papermaker who fell in the chaotic Battle of the Wilderness; William Hall, 19, a farm laborer who died at Spotsylvania; Joseph Haskell, 20, who succumbed to his wounds in a Washington hospital; and Sullivan Leavitt, 34, a marble worker “whose record reflects the painful truth that not every soldier’s burden could be borne.”
“Their absence was felt not only on battlefields, but as empty chairs and quiet doorways right here in Harvard,” Adams said. He also spoke of those who died off the battlefield. “Even desertion and early discharge are parts of this story—human responses to inhuman strain,” he said. “They remind us that survival in war is no less a mark of courage than falling in it.”
When Adams concluded his remarks, Jacqueline Wilkins and Victoria Mukiibi of Senior Girl Scout Troop 11395 read the names of Harvard veterans who died during the past year, as Jacqueline Beauchemin of Girl Scout Troop 64747 helped Daisy Scout Valerie Wyler of Troop 65440 ring a bell after each name. The band then concluded the downtown portion of the ceremony with a rousing rendition of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
A smaller contingent of the marchers reconvened at the Skillings memorial in Still River, where Lorin Johnson placed a wreath at the plaque honoring Roger Skillings, who was killed in action during the Korean War. The next stop was Bellevue Cemetery, where Nancy Cronin placed a wreath at the flagpole memorializing “All Veterans of All Wars.”
Finally, the veterans reconvened at the Shaker Cemetery. Because the cemetery has no memorial, no wreath was placed there, but Cronin had already placed potted geraniums on the graves of the eight Revolutionary War veterans buried there. A mother and two daughters who live nearby (and wish to remain anonymous) then carefully planted the geraniums at the graves.
Marty Green contributed to this article.
Editor’s Note: Elements of this article, also by Joan Eliyesil, first appeared in a 2016 issue of the Press.
