In the town of Agawam, Massachusetts, within earshot of the joyful sounds of a Six Flags Amusement Park, is a state Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery. On what turned into a sunny, warm Memorial Day, war veterans, their family, and the family of those laid to rest came here to pay their respects.
Governor Charlie Baker and other elected officials spoke solemnly to the crowd about those who served and sacrificed. Congressman Richie Neal chose to remind them of the more than 5,000 soldiers who lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the millions who came back home.
“So while we grieve today for those who have passed, we also need to be unyielding in our support of what that Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke does, what that [VA] hospital in Northampton does,” Neal said.
Toward the end of the event, the crowd stood as the U.S. Air Force 439th Patrol Wing Honor Guard out of Westover Air Reserve Base fired a three-volley salute.
Richard Bastien, the president of Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemeteries and a veteran himself of the U.S. Navy, asked the crowd that before they went home, or off to a barbecue with friends, they find the final resting place of a veteran they didn’t know, and thank them for the privilege of spending this day with loved ones.
“It’s because of their sacrifices,” Bastien said, “that we get to live our lives in freedom.”