By Bill Chaisson
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SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Memorial Day is a solemn holiday, dedicated to those we have lost in our past and current wars. In a Monday morning ceremony at the Memorial Park on River Street north of downtown Springfield, the chaplain of VFW Post 771 noted that some of those who served died in famous places like Gettysburg and Normandy, but others, she said, “have died in places that are still classified.
“We can’t repay the ultimate sacrifice,” the chaplain continued, “because the price is too high.” What we can do on Memorial Day, she said, was teach people that “freedom is not free,” in order to honor the families of the dead.
Former post Commander Bill Mattoon delivered an affecting keynote address, which he at times had trouble getting through, as his voice choked with emotion. He began by recalling the letters that are delivered to families of men and women killed while serving. They always begin “We regret to inform you ….” There is no adequate way of breaking this news: “The reality that your child is dead,” he said, “comes in doses. Reality arrives on its own schedule.”
He described the distorting lens through which war can be seen. D-Day veterans recalled the Normandy invasion in one way: “All they saw were dead friends,” Mattoon said. “It didn’t look like a great success to those up close, but they were wrong.” Operation Overlord was, in fact, a triumph, but only one that could be seen from a great distance.
One million Americans have made the supreme sacrifice, Mattoon continued, fighting for the United States. “They were willing to fight,” he said, “and, if necessary, die for our country.”
Mattoon retired from the Coast Guard, but before that he was in the “silent service,” the nickname for those who served on submarines. He recently discovered the name Gene Roger Rice among those who died in the silent service. Mattoon was initially puzzled because Rice was said to be from Springfield, but his name was not on any local memorials. He was, Mattoon said, a lost veteran of World War II.
Through some research he discovered that Rice, who was born in the Midwest, had married Jacqueline Eve King of Springfield and he had been lost at sea north of Hokkaido, Japan. His name is on a memorial in Hawaii, and Mattoon will see that it is now added to the Springfield monument.
The master of ceremonies Vito DeMarco, the judge advocate general of the post, then read the names of Springfield Post members who have died in war. To the list he added Springfield’s state Rep. Robert Forguites, who was not a post member, but was a veteran, and died unexpectedly on April 8. A wreath was placed at the base of the war memorial to honor the dead.
The chaplain then intoned the closing benediction, repeating “Let us never forget …” and pointedly including mention of living veterans suffering with PTSD, loneliness, addiction, and homelessness.
A crowd of approximately 60 people turned out for the 9:30 a.m. ceremony on Monday. Most of them then followed two fire trucks and several marchers down River Street to the McDonald’s where a ceremony to commemorate Navy veterans is held each year.
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