GILL — In commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the local chapter of Rolling Thunder, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action, will hold a remembrance ceremony today at the west end of the French King Bridge.
Jeffrey Neipp, president of Vermont’s Rolling Thunder chapter, said the ceremony, which starts at noon, honors those who were killed or wounded in the 1941 battle.
“We’re there to remember the 2,400 servicemen and women that were killed,” he said. “There was over 1,000 that were wounded … Part of our mission statement is to bring awareness to the public on some of the events that have happened in the past.”
Rolling Thunder’s Vermont chapter, which includes many western Massachusetts members, has been holding a ceremony for the past 10 years. Each year, the ceremony features a speaker and firing squad.
“We lay a wreath on the gazebo in remembrance of the five branches: the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Air Force,” Neipp added.
This year’s speaker is Lieutenant Colonel Charles Rocky Stone, who Neipp said enlisted in the Army in 1967 and retired in 1996. A Vietnam War veteran, Stone is a 1962 graduate of Athol High School and a current Athol resident.
Neipp said the ceremony regularly draws a crowd of veterans, widows and “anybody who’s interested in what’s happened to our nation.” Even some young soldiers, Neipp said, if they’re home on leave, attend in uniform.
“Last year, there was probably 50 or 60 people,” he said. “We’re hoping this year there will be a little bit more.”
Neipp said the event attracts many residents whose families — “their uncles, their aunts, brothers and sisters” — have been personally touched by war.