Peabody parade celebrates those who served

PEABODY – It was day of celebration for all war veterans, the living and the dead.That’s how Frank Silva, commander of Portuguese-American War Veterans Post No. 1 in Peabody, described the Veterans Day activities that enlivened the downtown Thursday.”Veterans Day is a celebration. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance. Today we celebrate all the veterans, living and dead. We celebrate their lives,” said Silva, 72, currently serving his fourth year as post commander.Silva served in the U.S. Air Force from 1956-62 and later for three decades in the U.S. Army, from 1968-98. He has since retired.”I’m coming up on 73,” he said Thursday amid the festivities at the Tremont Street veterans post. “I was lucky not go to to Vietnam. But while I was in the Air Force, I was involved in supporting the Marines in the 1958 Lebanon incident.”Silva was a flight engineer aboard a C-130 cargo plane. U.S. Marines had been sent to Lebanon by then President Dwight Eisenhower to quell a religion-fueled civil war between Christians and Muslims.Like many veterans, Silva and eight others from the Portuguese club spent the day marching in the city parade that led from VFW Post 1011 on Stevens Street along Central Street to Lowell Street to City Hall. Mayor Michael Bonfanti delivered the keynote address, followed by words from Democrat state Rep. Joyce Spiliotis and other dignitaries.”It’s still a viable holiday. The crowd was sparce but people are getting older and besides, it was cold outside,” said Silva. “But by the same token, I think a lot of the vets drove their own cars to City Hall because lots of them were there for the ceremony.”The Portuguese-American post figures dominantly in a city that’s population heavily favors those of Portuguese ethnicity. “We have about 375 members, associate and veteran,” the commander said. “We have them from World War II, Korea, the Cold War years, right on down. There’s quite a number of them here, having a good time, drinking up a storm and eating lots of food. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing.”In addition to the Portuguese-American and the VFW posts, Peabody is also home to an American Legion Post, Polish Legion of American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, Disabled American Veterans, a Navy Fleet Reserve Association, the Marine Corps League of Essex County and a North Shore chapter of the WDVA, the latter an association of veterans from the famous 26th Yankee Division.Some veterans responded to an invitation by Sunrise of Gardner Park at 73 Margin St., where they were saluted for their service and received a token of appreciation.