Lynn to dedicate traffic circle in honor of late war veteran

LYNN – City officials on Saturday will dedicate the traffic circle at High Rock Park in honor of the late Constantine “Gus” Belitsos.The 11 a.m. ceremony to formalize Gus Belitsos Square will focus on the World War II veteran’s helping to found the Highland Reunion Group and his efforts to revitalize High Rock Tower.A lifelong Lynn resident, Belitsos and his brother, Peter, currently of Lynnfield, were both prisoners of war. The brothers served as co-chief marshals of the 2008 Lynn Memorial Day Parade. That same year they participated in the Veterans History Project at Lynn Classical High School, where they told students stories of their wartime experiences.Starting in the mid-1990s, Gus Belitsos was the driving force behind a series of reunions that brought the former soldiers and area residents together in their beloved Highlands neighborhood. More than 140 people attended the first reunion in 1996.Known as the Highlanders, the group included all men, women, spouses and friends who lived within eight blocks of High Rock Tower in the days when trolley cars climbed the hills as part of the Highlands circuit and Tortolini’s variety store at the corner of Acorn and High Rock streets served as the local hangout.