Memorial Day a Time for 'Acknowledging Cost of Peace'
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — As the county remembers its fallen over the past 250 years, Kurtis Durocher reminded the gathering at Town Hall that Memorial Day isn't about glorifying war.
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"It is about acknowledging the cost of peace," said town's veterans agent. "The sacrifice of life for liberty is profound, and it depends or it demands more from us than parades or ceremonies. It asks for our vigilance in protecting the freedoms they died for. It asks us to care for their fellow veterans, to support their families and to build a country worthy of their sacrifice."
Clarksburg and Lanesborough held their ceremonies on Sunday.
Durocher is a retired, decorated Army master sergeant with multiple deployments including Iraq and Afghanistan. He was named as the regional veterans service officer earlier this year in North Adams and serves nearly a dozen North County towns.
He said the stories of those who were lost "are etched into the very soil of our community here in Northern Berkshire ... They are not statistics. They are our family."
"Let us also remember the Gold Star families, those who bear the weight of personal loss every single day we see you, we honor you, and we thank you for the unimaginable price your loved ones paid," Durocher continued. "So let us lower our heads, not in despair, but in gratitude. Let us speak their names, tell their stories and preserve their memory, because a hero remembered never truly dies."
The ceremony at Clarksburg included selections from the Drury High School band, an honor guard made up of the Clarksburg Volunteer Fire Departments and remarks from master of ceremonies Joseph Bushika of Peter A. Cook Post 9144 Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Town Administrator Ronald Boucher. Laurie Boudreau sang "God Bless America" and "American the Beautiful."
Boucher called for veterans in the crowd to raise the hands and thanked them for their service.
"We gather not just to remember, but to honor the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country," he said. "Their courage and dedication are etched in our in the history of our nation, and it is our duty to keep their legacy alive with that."
Clarksburg School eighth-graders Dakota Hurlbut, Ciera Crockwell and Abby Beer read the The Gettysburg Address and Dr. John McCrae's World War I poem "In Flanders Fields."
Bushika read off the names of the town's servicemen who died in war, from the Civil War to Vietnam, as the bell was tolled.
"They left their peacetime pursuits with confidence in their hearts and assurances upon their lips that they were fully aware of the dangers before them, and yet they responded without hesitance to this call of duty," he said. "So before we take that seat at the picnic table this weekend, take a few moments to reflect. Upon the deeds of those that gave their all for this generation of those to come. This is the very least we should do."
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Lt. Jacob Gaylord of the Berkshire County Sheriff's Office and a veteran of the Army National Guard speaks at Lanesborough's ceremonies on Sunday afternoon. More photos here.
Gaylord, a Cheshire native who enlisted because of the 9/11 terror attacks, spent time in Afghanistan removing unexploded ordnance and land mines.
While he spoke of those who "instead of sitting down or stepping back" when the towers fell stood up and said, "send me," Gaylord said it was also a time to remember the men and women who stood up again and again — like his grandfather who lied about his age to serve, those in World War I and World War II, the "Forgotten War' of Korea, the men who "waited nervously" at draft lotteries during Vietnam, who fought in the Gulf or were stuck behind enemy lines in Somalia.
"We must never forget them today. Let us soundly remember the sacrifices of those who fought so vigilant in the air, on the seas and on foreign shores," he said to the gathering in historic Center Cemetery. "Let us not forget, though, that currently we have men and womenin harm's way on foreign soil and even soil here in our own country. It is through them, it's through their sacrifices that at night, we can rest our heads peacefully, knowing freedom will always ring."
His remarks followed the annual parade from Old Forge Restaurant south on Route 7 to the cemetery. The parade included a contingent from Jake's Java in honor of Air Force Staff Sgt. Jacob "Jake" Galliher, who was killed in a military exercise off the coast of Japan when the Osprey he was on crashed. Members of the group handed out small American flags.
The parade of children's baseball leagues, motorcycles, trucks and tractors, emergency vehicles, floats, the Mount Greylock Regional School band, marchers, and Shriners made its way by some of the 36 "Hometown Hero" banners flying from utility poles.
Select Board member Michael Murphy, on behalf of the board, said the banners "would not have been possible without the vision and dedication of [Town Clerk] Ruth Knysh, who organized and coordinated the project, including the design, managing questions and applications, establishing options for donations, uploading photos and communicating with community families."
He thanked the Department of Public Works for getting the banners up for the weekend and the Szczepaniak for providing a bucket truck.
Murphy said the day was a time to remember those who have the ultimate sacrifice. "We are forever grateful for their service and commitment," he said, and asked that the gathering consider donating to the Veterans Food Pantry, located at 144 old State Road, on Friday mornings.
The band played the national anthem and Killian Scanlon taps; Boy Scout Alex Causland laid the wreath. The Dalton American Legion Post 155 Rifle Team was the honor guard.
The Rev. Noreen Suriner of St. Luke's Episcopal Church was the master of ceremonies and gave the invocation.
"On this Memorial Day, we pray for those who courageously laid down their lives for the cause of the freedoms we enjoy," she said. "May the examples of their sacrifice inspire us, inspire in us selfless love of one another and the God who brings forth life. Be with the family and friends of those who have died, and may you keep them strong and hopeful in spite of their loss, comfort them in their grief, heal those who have served and who lived with wounds that are both seen and unseen. ...
"Finally, we pray for all servicemen and women who currently serve, protect them and bring them home safely."
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