Patrick signs bill for Leopoldville Remembrance Day

LYNN – Completing an effort started by Lynn Classical High School senior Alexander Rittershaus, Sen. Thomas M. McGee (D-Lynn) announced Wednesday that Gov. Deval Patrick has signed Senate Bill 1873, naming Dec. 24 USS Leopoldville Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.Rittershaus started the movement after interviewing his neighbor, World War II veteran Walter Brown, who survived a German U-Boat attack that sank the USS Leopoldville into the English Channel at the Battle of the Bulge on Christmas Eve 1944. The famous attack killed over 800 servicemen, leaving Brown and 26 other men to tell the tale of their plunge into the icy waters that night.Rittershaus learned of Brown’s story in 2006 while interviewing his friend and neighbor for a school project. He found that 12 other states in the country had already designated Christmas Eve as USS Leopoldville Remembrance Day, and sought out to do the same in Massachusetts.Last year, Rittershaus contacted McGee in hopes that Massachusetts could join those other states in honor of the victims and survivors of the disaster.Though then-Gov. Mitt Romney proclaimed Dec. 24, 2006 to be a day of remembrance, an act of the legislature was needed in order to make the day permanent. McGee’s bill assures that day will be a permanent day of remembrance going forward.Rittershaus worked with McGee’s office throughout the legislative process and testified before the Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight in favor of the bill.Two weeks ago at Lynn Classical High School’s Veterans Day ceremony where Brown was a guest of honor, Rittershaus gave a speech about the disaster, and surprised Brown and his family with news of the pending legislation.Wednesday, Patrick, along with the Lynn delegation including McGee and Reps. Robert Fennell, Steven Walsh and Mark Falzone, invited the Rittershaus and Brown families to attend the bill signing. Rittershaus, along with his mother Jamie, joined Brown and his wife Barbara for the ceremony.