NAHANT — Residents gathered at the Life Saving Station for the town’s Vietnam Veterans Day celebration Friday morning.
The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place at the memorial of Vietnam veteran Richard Davis, but was moved due to inclement weather.
Nahant American Legion Adjutant Bob Fields spearheaded the event, filling in for Cmdr. Dan McMackin.
Fields began by recognizing the 9 million veterans who served during the Vietnam War, including the more than 58,000 American veterans who died in the war and the thousands who remain unaccounted for. Fields acknowledged Major James Magnusson, a late Air Force veteran with ties to Nahant.
“He was shot down on April 4, 1965,” Fields said. “He happened to be an engineer over at G.E. who was living in a home over here that G.E. had for some of their employees and he joined the service from here. Nonetheless, he is recognized as a Nahant veteran.”
Nahant Veterans Service Officer Jon Lazar took to the podium to thank the town’s leadership for its support of veterans and encouraged the community to continue to do so.
“Some of these veterans could be a pain in the ass as you all know, some nice,” Lazar joked. “Next time you see a veteran, and you know the saying, ‘Thank you for your service,’ mean it… be kind.”
Keynote speaker Dennis Treece shared some stories of his time spent as a combat soldier. The Purple Heart recipient attempted to bring a light-hearted approach while recounting his hardships and sacrifices.
“I worked in a place that was a super secret sensitive kind of place and it was lit up, which made a great target for the bad guys,” Treece said. “One little black bug shows up, two little black bugs, 10 little black bugs, 1,000 little black bugs, we could hardly breathe.”
Treece said that one of his peers found a solution with a grasshopper.
“He unfolded a paper clip, stuck it through the grasshopper into a bulletin board, and within five minutes all those bugs were gone,” Treece said. “The grasshopper let out danger signals and they all left.”
Treece described this and other tales as he described “weird things” he will always remember from his time serving.
Fields thanked Treece for his perspective and said that it was a unique departure from the solemn traditions of the day.
