LYNNFIELD — Facing the 1,090 names of the Lynnfield men and women who served for this country is an engraved bronze plaque that reads “All Gave Some, Some Gave All”.
Confronted with the sheer scope of the Veterans Memorial located next to the town common, it’s an axiom that honors the sacrifices made by each individual etched into the 100-foot-long structure.
Now, thanks to the tireless work of the nine men who make up the Lynnfield Veterans War Memorial Committee, Thomas Bogart, Joseph Connell, Paul Donato, John Harrigan, Jason Kimball, Charles Leach, Ronald Nutter, Nicholas Secatore, and Bruce Siegel those sacrifices will never be forgotten.
These countless hours of work and commitment towards this project is why the Veterans War Memorial Committee has been named Essex Media Group’s “Person of the Year” for Lynnfield.
For Connell, who served in Afghanistan and who Bogart called the “heart and soul” of the project, commemorating every veteran in the town’s history, from the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terror, was long overdue.
“Go around towns anywhere in New England—you see a memorial over here for World War I, World War II. It doesn’t make any sense. Why not have it all together?” Connell said.
The idea to create one memorial for every war was presented to the Lynnfield Select Board in 2016, and the Veterans War Memorial Committee was subsequently created.
After over 1,800 hours of work, 90 meetings, and over $140,000 raised in donations, the town finally gathered for the first time to dedicate the monument on Veterans Day this past year.
Central to the committee’s mission was making it educational. To that end, Connell assigned each war to a member and worked alongside the West Point Historical Department and the United States Heraldry Department to ensure the memorial had accurate narratives on each section.
“We’ve had many classes come down…and this has helped them significantly be able to teach the kids what each war meant,” Connell said. “That was kind of like our kind of moral compass to get behind and get these things done.”
No doubt, anyone visiting the memorial today would say, “Mission accomplished.” But Connell and the rest of the committee have plenty of plans for future additions.
For example, the hope is to record videos of veterans giving testimonials about their time serving and display them through monitors supported by the memorial’s wiring capabilities already installed.
Importantly, the committee made sure to install blank plaques to recognize that future unrest is inevitable and there will always be Lynnfielders willing to serve and add their names to the town’s storied history.
“When you have a kid go down and say, ‘Hey, that was my grandfather,’ and then to read about it or see the map, that’s a significant event for them,” Connell said.
But it’s not just these moments that have exemplified the unifying spirit of the memorial—it’s also represented by the selflessness demonstrated by those who donated their time and money to the committee because they truly believed in their mission.
In particular Tony Tropeano, a longtime friend of Connell and who he called “a master at what he does,” helped save $95,000 by offering the services of his Tropeano Masonry company to install the landmark’s stone veneer.
“A tree company came in and put the flagpole for us, and the guys who put the pavers in did more work than their contract called for,” he said. “A lot of good people came forward to help us with the project by seeing how hard the committee was working and to find any way they could help us to get this project done to perfection.”
Under Connell’s leadership, it’s hard to say that perfection wasn’t achieved. Every minute detail was cared for, and every Lynnfield veteran’s service was honored by the nine men. Now, thanks to them, the 1,090 souls have been immortalized.
