Saugus somber as new names added to town’s roll of honor

SAUGUS – The crowd hushed Thursday as the 17 names added to the town’s roll of honor were read aloud at Veterans’ Park.When the brief ceremony was concluded, police, fire and veterans organizations joined school and scouting groups as the Veterans Day Parade reassembled and marched to the Marine Cpl. Scott J. Procopio American Legion Post 210 for a community gathering. Flag-waving adults and children brought a patriotic flavor to the event, which benefited from brilliant sunshine and blue skies despite the autumn chill.Names added Thursday to the roll of honor represented those who have served and were honorably discharged. They included World War II veteran Carmen J. Ciampa; Korean War veteran Daniel H. Silver; Vietnam War veterans John Breen Jr., Francis J. Howlett, Paul Kotchian, Fred W. Long, Elgin L. Ludwig, Thomas P. Maes, Joseph A. Michalski and John Weidman; Persian Gulf First War veterans Paul H. Allan and Kevin M. Manning; and Global War on Terror veterans Katelyn Deon, Bryan W. Erickson, Joseph C. Lovati, Daniel J. Mills and Charles A. Stack III.”All day I have been thanking the veterans. I show my respect to all of them,” said Bill Boomhower, a Vietnam War veteran clad in an olive field jacket with a Purple Heart emblem sewn on.Boomhower served with I Corps and was wounded after the infamous Tet Offensive of 1968 when his tank was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.”It’s just wonderful, seeing all these people here, and I think there will be more coming,” said Janice Jarosz, Saugus’ 2008 Person of the Year, as she stood amid the hundreds gathered in Veterans’ Park. “More and more people are becoming aware of the sacrifices that these veterans made. I brought four of my grandchildren here today to see it.”Ralph DiVirgilio, who served with the U.S. Marines in the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, said Veterans Day means different things to those who served, often depending on the war.”We still have some of the Greatest Generation veterans with us from World War II, but the Vietnam veterans are now the biggest group,” he said. “It seems like the World War II guys have a story to tell. They saw a lot of action. They saw things that only police officers, firefighters and EMTs get to see all the time.”Nick DiMella, 91, and his wife, Liz, whose son, Dom, is the town police chief, attended the roll of honor ceremony and attentively viewed the parade.DiMella served with the 9th Infantry Division during World War II, landing in Algiers after D-Day and fighting his way through France, Belgium and Germany. He spent over four years on the front lines.”It brings back memories, especially of the Battle of the Bulge,” said the former technical sergeant. “It was rough and cold.”DiMella recalled a night in Algiers when the Rev. Edward T. Connors of Worcester celebrated midnight Mass amid the troops. “The night sky was clear, like it was daytime. And there was Fr. Connors, our chaplain, saying the Mass. He had no fear. In the heat of battle he would be there to hear confessions from the men. He was quite a guy. All priests should be like him.”He was impressed at the size of the crowd at Thursday’s event. “It’s great to see this kind of turnout. It shows people have appreciation for the veterans,” he said.Liz DiMella nodded. “My husband never talked about what he did in the war,” she said.The old soldier, who returned from war and found a job as a clerk with the Boston City Council, agreed. “In those days, you just went and did what you had to do and you waited to come home,” he said.”There weren’t any big protests back then,” said his wife. “Everybody at home wanted to go to work in the factories or wherever they could. We would knit mittens and send them to the troops.”Steve Castinetti, president of the Saugus Veterans’ Council, said the town’s roll of honor contains over 4,500 names. “These are the names of the people who served and were discharged, not those who died,” he said. “It was a good turnout but I wou