‘Absent,’ but not forgotten

Town pays tribute to fallen soldiers on Memorial Day

“Freedom is not free” was the underlying message of Monday’s Memorial Day Ceremony, a point made clear as the names of the 77 Canton residents who died in action from the Civil War to the present day were read aloud at the start of the program.

Canton veterans salute during the ceremonies at the Walk of Honor: Danny Teague, Tom Keleher, Sr. and Bill Hayes

After Leo O’Donnell, commander of the Edward J. Beatty American Legion Post 24, said each name, a response of “absent” echoed in the distance, a grim reminder of the real-life costs of war.

The hour-long ceremony, held at the Walk of Honor at Veterans Memorial Park, was the final destination of the annual Memorial Day parade.

Three cars parked near Canton Corner Cemetery alongside Washington Street had a bumper sticker that read “In loving memory of Shayne M. Cabino,” a Marine Corps lance corporal killed in action in Iraq in 2005 and Canton’s most recent fallen hero.

“I think it’s a really important day for America to be able to remember not just Shayne but all the veterans,” Brenda Mosetich, Cabino’s aunt and Walpole resident, told the Citizen before the start of the ceremony. “They do so much for us every day and there aren’t enough days, I don’t think, dedicated for people to remember them and their service.”

U.S. Congressman Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts Representative Bill Galvin, and Canton Board of Selectmen Chairman Victor Del Vecchio delivered the keynote addresses.

Lynch took time at the beginning of his speech to give a tip of the cap to Canton’s veterans’ agent, Tony Andreotti, who organized Monday’s parade and ceremony. “There is none better in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” Lynch said of Andreotti.

Galvin reminded the hundreds in attendance that on a day when “we remember all the veterans and the servicemen and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice,” we should also be cognizant of the fact that there are American troops still serving over in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

“It’s important for all of us to continue to show our support to those men and women,” Galvin said.

In his address Del Vecchio said that the “safety and security” Americans can take for granted is a luxury not available for those families who have lost a loved one in service.

“For many of us, war is something that happens somewhere else, far from the comforts and safety of our shores,” Del Vecchio said. “But for the families of the dead [for which] we commemorate this day, war is something far more sobering.”

Andreotti, himself a Korean War veteran, spoke of the importance of getting the town’s youth involved in the Memorial Day program “because they’re the ones who have to continue it.”

“I hate to see us all meet up here at 10 o’clock one morning and place some wreaths down and go home for a picnic,” he said.

And much to Andreotti’s delight, 15 Galvin Middle School eighth graders, under the direction of GMS social studies teacher Elaine McCarthy, spoke to the crowd, sharing their thoughts on what Memorial Day meant to them and reading passages from various war-time poems, letters and essays throughout American history. Andreotti also honored Canton native Stephen Griffiths, a 2010 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, wanting to introduce to the town “someone who is going to represent us in the future.”

The grand marshalls of the parade were Lillian Jennison Staples, a veteran of World War II, and John Cox, a veteran of the Korean War. Bob DeYeso, a WWII veteran, read the poem “A Soldier Died Today,” Ann Galvin sang a patriotic medley, and Tom Jenkins, a Korean War veteran, continued his tradition of reciting President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address from memory.