BURRILLVILLE – Under the sunny sky, surrounded by sounds from the Harrisville Falls and flanked by American flags flying in the wind, more than 100 people gathered at Freedom Park on Monday for an annual Memorial Day ceremony. Presented by Burrillville Allied Council, American Legion Posts 17 and 88, and VFW Post 1023, the ceremony was led by American Legion Commander Raymond Trinque, and was a mixture of honoring the fallen, remembering the lost or imprisoned, and appreciating those who serve today, or who came home from wars in the past.
Delivering the invocation, Town Councilor Dennis Anderson asked the crowd to remember to honor “those who answered the cause with their lives,” from those at “the shot heard ‘round the world” April 19, 1775, at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts when the ragtag band of Colonists went to war for independence from Britain, to the millions of “brave Americans” whose lives were lost since the origin of the nation.”
“From Gaspee to the American Revolution…time and again Rhode Islanders have stepped up to serve,” said Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz during her remarks, reminding the gathering of the origin of the nation and the significance of the Gaspee affair in Rhode Island of 1772, an incident often cited as the first strike at a “lobster back” aka “redcoat” British enemy in the War for Independence.
“Many never came home,” from wars, the senator said of Americans. “Freedom was bought at a great price.”
It is “our responsibility to guard those freedoms,” de la Cruz said.
State Rep. David Place noted that Americans fallen in wars “didn’t die for a government or political party.”
Rather, they died for the chance for families and friends “to live in freedom,” he said.
Freedom and justice aren’t just words “but really worth building,” added.
Trinque said of de la Cruz and Place “once they get elected, they’re all of our representatives,” meaning the General Assembly members are non-partisan in their duty serving everyone in their districts.
“When we need things for the veterans, they’re the two we go to, and there (are) no questions asked,” Trinque said.
The family members of the veterans deserve thanks, Town Council President Donald Fox told the crowd. Left behind, when their loved ones march, take to the sky, or sail the seas in war, the families are also sacrificing.
Fox urged those present to remember those who died in war, as well as those who came home “torn up from battle” and now fighting depression or addiction to drugs or alcohol; for, they, too, ultimately fell in service to this country he said.
Past Post 88 Commander Ronald Lapierre noted that 56 Burrillville residents who served have fallen in war through the years. He presented a wreath alongside some of the oldest, most honored veterans at the gathering. The Missing in Action and Prisoner of War military members were also remembered and honored, represented by an empty chair.
In the benediction, Anderson asked God for “blessings as we confront divisions and evil in this world.” Anderson quoted President Abraham Lincoln who led the nation during the Civil War. “The solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom,” from an 1864 letter to Lydia Bixby, a widow from Massachusetts who lost sons during the Civil War. The letter was published in the Boston Evening Transcript newspaper.
Denis Taschereau of Burrillville served his country almost one hundred years later. He served in the Air Force from 1977 to 1981. The former sergeant said he attended the Memorial Day Ceremony with family members “for all the people who sacrificed, and to never, never forget.”
“It’s good to see young people here,” Taschereau remarked, adding that his grandchild Calvin Burbank participated in the day as a member of the Burrillville High School band, which played the rousing theme songs of branches of the military, as those who served in each stood for their anthem.
“Hits you right in the heart,” Taschereau said of the Memorial Day gathering.
He said he lost loved ones in military service, and “prays every day for the people who served to find peace.”
A member of American Legion post 85 in Woonsocket, veteran Taschereau was also accompanied at Freedom Park on Memorial Day by his daughter Alison Burbank, and granddaughters Maddox, age 10, and Aislyn, age 11.
Beyond the rushing waterfall at Burrillville, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, which reads in part:
“Memorial Day is a sacred day of remembrance, reverence, and gratitude for the brave patriots who have laid down their lives in service to our great Nation. Throughout our history, brave men and women have been called to defend the cause of liberty on foreign shores in defense of our homeland. Their noble sacrifices are marked by flag-draped coffins and the silent sorrows of those left behind. We must never forget those who have given everything for our country.”
In this state, the 51st Annual Memorial Day commemoration was held at the Rhode Island Veterans Memorial Cemetery; Boots on the Ground was at Fort Adams for the weekend, and numerous parades and or ceremonies were held in towns and cities, including Glocester and Burrillville.
Beside Harris Falls at Freedom Park, the fallen were remembered and honored.
Thank you for covering the event so well. You do a great job.
Great proclamation from the White House…wonder who wrote it, because it for sure wasn’t the draft dodger-in-chief.