For a moment, a cloudy Memorial Day morning was lit by the muzzle flashes from a three-volley salute, the sound of taps and prayers as ceremonies took place across Franklin County to honor those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
In Northfield, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 9874 held a remembrance and reflection ceremony at the Pentecost Cemetery. This ceremony was open to the public and saw a little more than two dozen attendees practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Northfield VFW Post Commander Denis Brennan, an Air Force Veteran, led the Memorial Day ceremony. Brennan said roughly 1.3 million people have made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country.
“Over time, the meaning of the day had been forgotten by many people,” Brennan said. “Instead of being a day to honor and say thank you, it became just another long weekend.”
To that end, the National Moment of Remembrance Act was born. Brennan said the annual event asks Americans, wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day, to pause for one minute to remember and honor those who have died in military service to the United States.
“That time of day was chosen because it’s likely a time when most Americans are enjoying the freedom made possible by those brave men and women,” Brennan said.
While there were no parades this year, four small, private services were coordinated with Deerfield’s local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3295 at the Brookside Cemetery, the Saint Stanislaus Cemetery, Holy Name of Jesus Cemetery and Laurel Hill Cemetery. Chair of the Deerfield Memorial Day Planning Committee John Cyez said, due to COVID-19 related public health safety concerns, Monday’s service was “one tenth” of what the town normally conducts.
Members of the Deerfield VFW post were escorted by Deerfield Police Officers as they drove from one location to the next. After each prayer and firing salute, Frontier Regional School junior Aden Gray raised his trumpet to his lips to play taps as VFW Post 3295 members stood in attention.
Rachael Otto, Deerfield VFW 3295 post commander-elect who served in the Air Force in Iraq, said Memorial Day is one of the most revered days of the year for veterans. She said Memorial Day is meant to honor and thank their fallen “brothers and sisters.”
“We made it home, but they didn’t,” Otto said.
Kathy Belanger has been speaking as part of Deerfield’s annual ceremony for over 15 years now. She said her son, Greg Belanger was killed by an explosive while driving a humvee August 2003, just five days before his 24th birthday.
“He just started living his life,” Kathy Belanger said.
She and her family were visiting Greg’s grave this Memorial Day and, while the Deerfield ceremony was not open to the public, they were invited to view the firing salute.
“I can’t imagine having not done something,” Kathy Belanger said Monday.
According to Cyez, he and volunteers placed flags on over 800 graves of local veterans prior to Monday’s services. Cyez said there are 24 known local veterans who were killed in combat. Signs commemorating those who were killed in action were adorned with a ribbon and red flowers for Memorial Day. In Northfield, VFW Post 9874 members laid wreaths at the Town Hall War Memorial and Northfield Elementary School Civil War Memorial.
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.
An earlier version of this story misspelled Rachael Otto’s name.