Posted on 05/25/2013 6:55:52 AM PDT by raccoonradio
BEVERLY (CBS) – This Sunday, the streets of Beverly will look just like they always do. And that’s the problem, some veterans say. The city has cancelled its annual Memorial Day parade for what’s believed to be the first time since the end of the Civil War.
Many veterans who were gathered at the Herman A. Spear American Legion Post on Friday night are upset by the decision.
“It’s not right to me,” says Ron Innocenti. He is a Vietnam veteran who has not only marched in the city’s Memorial Day parade in the past, he says he has also been its grand marshal.
He hates to cancel because of the message it sends to men and women serving now.
“It’s a slap in the face to them that we’re not doing it,” he says. “But on the other hand, I can see why we’re not doing it because of the age of the veterans we have now.”
That gets to the heart of the problem. In Beverly, there just are not enough veterans alive who are well enough to march in the parade anymore.
“Most of us, like myself, either have some knee issues or foot issues or whatever,” explains Jerry Guilebbe, the city’s Director of Veterans’ Services. “Just getting down the street to march” can be difficult if not impossible, he says.
Innocenti agrees. “We try and try,” he says. “When we were younger we used to march everywhere, but we can’t do it anymore.”
As for younger veterans – like the men and women who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan – they are often too busy to take part.
“I’ve found just talking with them,” explains Guilebbe , “they’re emergency medical technicians, firefighters, police. They’re first responders, so traditionally that’s their day to work so it’s hard to get them to come out and actually participate.”
In years past, numbers have fallen so low that for 2013, organizers decided to just have everyone meet here at Odell Park for a ceremony.
It’ll be a proper gathering, it just won’t be a parade.
“It’s very disappointing to me; I think it’s a shame,” says Robert Driscoll, a local veteran who served in Korea. “Hopefully maybe next year we can change that.”
City officials think that’s possible. If enough veterans come forward to participate, or if the city can come up with another way to have them be a part of the parade, then the city will bring it back.
What state or country is Beverly in?
Boston
Beverly’s population is about 39,500 but not enough veterans to do a parade...
I know my dad, who served in WWII and is now 92 and with dementia in a rest home, used to tell me when he still could talk with clarity, etc. that the vets organizations were suffering lack of participation—the older vets were dying off and the younger ones “didn’t care—they had other stuff to do and didn’t want to join”. This article says actually younger vets are often first responders, etc., and can’t get the day off.
Is this happening elsewhere?
Floats. Let the older ones ride and wave.
yup Mass.; sorry should have specified (there are some Beverlys in other states and of course our city inspired the name of Beverly Hills)
The Marine that saved my life in Vietnam lives in Beverly. Ought to have a parade just for him, in my opinion..
You say the same thing a friend of mine, a Vietnam Vet, said on Facebook and indeed it’s true. Yes we should honor our vets but this holiday is Memorial Day, which was born as Decoration Day, a day to honor those who have given their lives for our country (...as well as other beloved people who have passed on. There was an old blues song about a man whose wife or lover died; “I get the blues on every Decoration Day”)
And yes, very true:
>>. Those who are alive and enjoy the freedoms we have (or had) should commemorate those who lost their lives in the protection of liberty and freedom
I would go down to Cape Cod on Memorial Day and my Dad would ride in a car in the Centerville Mem. Day parade. Afterwards we might go to the market, Sears, etc. and people would spot my Dad in his cap mentioning his ship (the Bayfield) in the war and they would thank him for his service. Yes. But indeed this is memorial day not veteran’s day.
For those veterans of WWII etc who can’t march I would hope people provide cars to bring them around in a parade. For indeed there are often ceremonies at cemeteries where they can honor their fellow Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines who died in service to the country
This is an incredible tribute to our Veterans by Glen Beck
Here’s another Tributes to our Veterans!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKqT0-3JV5E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This sounds to me like poor planning. They could have easily put out a call for veterans in the area, or even in the region, and many would be more than happy to turn out.
“The number of Veterans in Massachusetts is 398,252. The Veterans make up 7.8% of the 5,135,613 Civilian Population (18 Years and Older).”
They probably thought that “Veterans”, only means veterans from Beverly, a city with only 39,500 people. It doesn’t.
Hell, I'd volunteer to parade down the street wearing a veteran's photo & name printed on a sandwichboard.
This comment has given me hope for America. It's so easy to forget that there are tens of thousands of heroes still walking around in this country.
The young generation of veterans is indeed joining the vets’ organizations - Legion, VFW, AMVETS - but the mentality is different.
The last generation is service oriented toward providing ageing vets with services: “We take care of our own”.
The new generation wants to know what services are available to them as members: “What’s in it for ME?”
The WW2/Korea vets are fading fast. The ‘Nam/Desert Storm generation now holds the reins.
Perhaps it should be the schools and organizations marching to honor the vets. Put the vets in open cars to ride.
know my dad, who served in WWII and is now 92 and with dementia in a rest home, used to tell me when he still could talk with clarity, etc. that the vets organizations were suffering lack of participation—the older vets were dying off and the younger ones “didn’t care—they had other stuff to do and didn’t want to join”. This article says actually younger vets are often first responders, etc., and can’t get the day off.
I don’t disagree much with what the writer says here.Since I myself am a Veteran and Unfortunately my Occupation requires that I work a Certain Number of Holidays and This year Memorial Day is one of them.
I do disagree with the Fact that the Writer claims that Veterans are “First Responders”Paramedic’s,Fire Fighters,Police,Etc.
Don’t fall for that Term First Responder.The Individual citizen is the First Responder.Always has been and always will be.
Every body else arrives after the fact.This “First Responder Crap” is just a method for the Government and the Government unions to diminish our Civil Rights most notably the Second Amendment and for the Government Unions to threaten the populace with work stoppages should they fail to get what they want during labor negotiations.
People often wonder why so much PTSD.
These VFW Halls and Am Legion centers were active in the past I guess as neighborhood places where guys who grew up together gathered.
Now, it’s not the norm to live, as an adult, in the place one grew up.
anyway, vets don’t debrief as much as they did in the past and it’s a part of why PTSD is so rampant, part of it. I think there was PTSD in the past just better managed.
also, it is, as Greg G and the gang on RedEye were saying yesterday, it’s out of style to be patriotic, so, even vets are iffy on this. Does the presence of women in the military discourage these clubs?.
Right. This isn’t Veterans Day, it’s Memorial Day.
“I’ve found just talking with them,” explains Guilebbe , “they’re emergency medical technicians, firefighters, police. They’re first responders, so traditionally that’s their day to work so it’s hard to get them to come out and actually participate.”
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That’s funny, when we have a home town Parade almost every Emergency Vehicle we have is in the Parade with lights flashing and Sirens blasting.
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