SWAMPSCOTT — The town of Swampscott got an early jump on observing Memorial Day Sunday with a ceremony in Monument Square paying tribute to Massachusetts military personnel who have died in action during the War on Terror.
The Field of Heroes ceremony was presented by the Military Friends Foundation and Swampscott Veterans Services.
Included among those honored and mourned were Marine Corps Capt. Jennifer Harris, and Army specialists Jared Raymond and Justin Mooers.
“I shouldn’t have to be here,” said Raymond Harris, who has lost several more members of his family in the last two years. “This never gets easier. I lost my wife, my sister, and my Jennifer. It’s been 14 years since I lost Jennifer.”
Harris said his daughter, a Marine helicopter pilot, died in 2007 because she was simply trying to help people.
About 150 people braved the excessively miserable cold and rainy conditions Sunday to honor the 330 people from Massachusetts who have died since the War on Terror, either in action or of post-war “hidden wounds,” that began after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Sarah Sweeney, a military wife and a member of the Military Friends Foundation.
“We are here because there is a debt we can never repay,” Sweeney said “Let us learn their names, and let us learn all about them. They have all fallen during the global war on terror.”
The Military Friends Foundation has been honoring War on Terror victims since 9/11, and generally do so around the anniversary of the attack, Sweeney said. However, the town wanted to honor the fallen on Memorial Day weekend.
The group decorated the square with markers signifying the 330 victims last year, but because of COVID-19 there was no ceremony. This was the first full service for the occasion, said Sweeney, whose husband, Mike, is the veterans agent for Lynn and Swampscott.
As part of the service, wreaths were laid in front of the markers commemorating Harris, Raymond and Mooers. Also, the names of each of the men and women who had died in either Iraq or Afghanistan since the aftermath of 9/11 were read aloud, with a bell tolling for each one.
Both police and fire chiefs, Ronald Madigan and Graham Archer, respectively, were in attendance, as were Town Administrator Sean Fitzgerald and state Sen. Brendan Crighton of Lynn.
Also participating were members of the Massachusetts National Guard, Boy Scout Troop 53, Ocean Bay Junior Troop 72182, and Daisy Troop 70359.
Readers of the roll call included Sgt. First Class Daniel Bertrand (of Lynn) of the Army National Guard; Brigadier Gen. Andrea Gayle, Army National Guard; Brigadier Gen. Michael Finer, Army National Guard (state retired list); Past State President Karen Lounsbury, Gold Star Mothers of Massachusetts; Chief Master Sgt. Patrick Burke, Air Force Reserves; Vice President Kathy Marden, Gold Star Mothers; and Lt. Junior Grade Michael Thompson, Coast Guard veteran. ‘
SPC Zachary Grady, 54th Mass. Volunteer Infantry Regiment (honor guard) played both the national anthem and TAPS.
“Today’s weather doesn’t matter,” said Fitzgerald, whose older brother Gerald Jr., served in the first Gulf War and whose father and numerous uncles were also veterans.
“We will never, ever forget the sacrifices these veterans made,” said Fitzgerald. “So we can pause for a second to uphold that torch that remains lit (in their honor).”
The town will also have a Memorial Day ceremony Monday (11 a.m.) at the Swampscott Cemetery.
