MARBLEHEAD — The Marblehead Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2005 turned its hall into a hub of military pride and community camaraderie Saturday night by hosting a watch party for the annual Army-Navy Game that drew veterans, residents, and first-time visitors.
Commander Ronny Knight, who served in both the Army and Air Force, said he hoped the event would draw in members of the community as a part of his efforts to revitalize the post.
He added, “I’m looking out here right now. I see people who have never been here before, and they’re having a great time. They’re eating some great food and watching a great football game! It’s us connecting with the community — it’s us getting to know people that probably were scared to come in here. We don’t want them to be scared. We want them to come in.”
Knight said any member of the Marblehead community is welcome to visit or join the Post by contributing $25 to the Marblehead Militia, which is used for donation efforts. One of these efforts is contributions to the Todd Norman Memorial Scholarship, which provides financial support for Marblehead students to pay for college.
The event included a livestreaming of the game, raffles during each quarter, game-day refreshments courtesy of an anonymous donor, and a performance by Glass Harbor, a local band. Raffles held during each quarter of the game were run by Company 2 Heroes.
Company 2 Heroes is a nonprofit based in Danvers with the goal of providing support for veterans through service animals, said Director Kate Van Auken.
Van Auken said proceeds from the raffles and T-shirt sales would go toward supporting Company 2 Heroes initiatives.
She said her favorite part about the Army-Navy game is the camaraderie shared between servicemen and women. Even though there is a strong rivalry, she said, “Trash talking begins before the game and during the game.” Once the game is over, she added, “You know that everybody that’s playing out there is going to go serve the country. How do you not root for that? America, right?”
Select Board member Moses Grader, an infantry officer in the Marine Corps during the Reagan administration, said the annual Army-Navy Game is a great tradition that brings together two branches of the United States Military.
He said this was a “perfect game” to get the Post to “open up to the community and get more involvement, both in the facility and with what veterans are doing.”
He added that Marblehead is a town “that’s deeply tied to its history, and the veterans play a special role in that story. And I think that veterans love to do that… and this is one way to do that.”
According to Grader, the U.S. Navy has its origins traced back to Marblehead.
Resident Tom Mathers, a retired captain in the Army who played in four Army-Navy games during his time at West Point, said the game is “what makes America great.”
“It’s the best of everything, where two service academies come and play on the field of friendly strife. And at the end of the game, they will lock arms as brothers in arms. And for our country, it’s amazing,” Mathers said.
He said it was great to see many members of the Marblehead community attend the event, and regardless of whether they were rooting for the Army or Navy, “we’re all of Team USA.”
After the game concluded, with Navy emerging as the winners of the game with a final score of 17-16, Glass Harbor, a local band formed by residents Nick Sears and Brendan Kane while studying at the University of Vermont, performed.
Sears said Glass Harbor has been hosted by the VFW previously, and it has become one of the group’s favorite venues to perform at.
“I like that a lot of people come back to see us, which is really nice. It seems like the people here really enjoy what we do. They like our energy; they match our energy; I really like playing here. It’s given us a lot of opportunities to play in other places because of Ronny Knight,” he said.
Another veteran, Noel Holzer, who served in the Navy, said he was inspired to attend the event to meet fellow veterans and Marblehead residents.
Holzer compared the event to similar gatherings held when the game was played while in active duty.
“It was a huge thing. Every year, we would have a huge barracks party about it. We would get drinks, pizzas from Domino’s, all that stuff. We would just hang out in the barracks and throw the biggest party ever. You know, throw Doritos at the TV type thing when the army scored,” he said.
Resident Claudette Mason, a member of the VFW’s auxiliary board, assisted in planning the event, and her company, Piper Sandler, donated a Chinese-food buffet for the event, available for free after the game concluded.
She said the Army-Navy game is an opportunity for Marblehead’s residents to come together and raise awareness of the VFW’s role in the community.
Mason said the rivalry between the Army and the Navy can be compared to the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees.
“When you can meet the same people in the same room and have a great time, they’re all cheering for each other. It’s a great atmosphere. It’s a great environment. And Marblehead is all about that. Two different teams coming together under one group and having a great time,” she said. “It’s USA; that’s what we say. I asked a couple of people when they were here: ‘Are you Army or Navy?’ And they go, ‘We’re USA.’ And I was like, ‘Yes! That’s what it is about.’ We break bread with everybody, and that’s the best thing. This is what the VFW is about. Come here, have a good time, and cheer on your team.”
