Memorial Day Speach 2007
Good Morning:
As a freshman legislator, it seems so much different having this view of the Memorial Day Service. For many of the last 42 years of my life I have stood in the audience watching and listening to the speakers. What an honor it is to now be addressing this fine group of people – veterans and people who believe in them.
As many of you may know, in addition to serving in the Vermont legislature I also write local history, including telling the stories of many of the local men and women who have served their country.
I have sat for hours with people who have survived the horrors of war, and none of them have said it was a pretty sight. They have warned me not to believe anybody who say they have been in battle but were not scared. It’s a fear that I’ll probably never know – a fear that I hope my children will never know.
Among the many veterans who I have had the honor to come to know over the years are: Edie Parenteau of Derby Line. He ferried members of the invasion force onto Omaha Beach on D-Day.
David Reed was a Marine artilleryman on Iwo Jima.
Joe Queenin of Derby was a young Marine when he landed on the beaches of Okinawa.
Then there are two inseparable neighbors and pals – Ted Chaffee and John Cadieux of Newport. During the war Chaffee served in the Atlantic on a patrol boat. One was sunk out from underneath him. Meanwhile Cadieux was a member of the invasion force that landed on the Pacific Island of Guam.
Evelyn Page of Holland served her country stateside in the Navy.
Paul Monfette of Newport saw unspeakable horrors in battle and even worse, the horrors in the death camp, Dauchu.
Lyndy Palin of Derby was a bomber pilot with the Eighth Air Force, flying long range bombing missions over Europe.
Ceril Day was aboard the Aircraft carrier Bunker Hill when hundreds of his comrades were killed when kamikazes nose-dived into the ship.
Ken Scott of Derby was an officer at the Battle of the Bulge.
Roland Willey, formerly of Derby Line, took over his platoon after his boyhood friend, Alfred Pepin, was killed in action on a jungle covered island in the Pacific.
Rosa Gendreau of Newport is also a veteran, not of the U.S. military, but of the British military. She enlisted in the military after she watched the German Air Force turn her beloved London into rubble – but the British people refused to surrender.
As some of you may know, this past Saturday I, along with my family and the Newport Post of the VFW, and the Elks Lodge, hosted a gathering of Korean and Vietnam veterans at the Elks Lodge. What an amazing gathering. The veterans who spoke provided those of us too young to remember the wars that they fought with a better understanding of the battles that shaped their lives. Sadly, for some of the veterans, some of the battles occurred on U.S. and even Vermont soil – not a battle of weapons, but a battle of words. They returned to a country that was at war with itself.
Among some of the Korean and Vietnam Veterans I have had the honor to meet are:
Dennis Beuachane of Derby enlisted into the Army. He was awarded the Bronze Star when his helicopter was shot down.
Winston Carbonneau of Derby was a Platoon sergeant that led his troops through some of the fiercest fighting in Vietnam.
Then there is Roland Prairie. Many of us remember him from his many years as a highly respected and very accomplished detective with the Vermont State Police. He too is a Vietnam Veteran.
Ad Taylor of Barton and John Ferrar of Westfield all served in the Korean War – the Forgotten War. Then there was Arthur Prive of Newport. A quiet, humble man, I had no idea that he was a combat veteran of the Korean War. Many of the people of my generation didn’t even learn about this war in our history classes.
There were many touching stories at Saturday’s event, one of them that touched me the deepest was told by Gene Tessier of Derby. His talk was short and too the point, but his words were profound. Many of us who know Gene as an undying supporter of Border Hoop Basket Ball, but few of us, especially those of us of a younger generation, knew that he is also a Vietnam Veteran.
Gene said that until that very morning he didn’t know if he would be able to attend the event. And when he did summon up the courage, he said he had no plans of speaking. He told how when he returned home from Vietnam he threw everything in the closet and had planned to let it out – that is until Saturday. And, after almost 40 years of not talking about the war years, it was obvious that talking about it and spending time with his brothers – fellow Vietnam veterans – felt mighty good to him.
As closing words to the organizers Gene said, “You made us feel that we are welcome home.”
Never, never, never again – should an American serviceman, no matter how controversial the war, have to return home to a world that Gene and his fellow Vietnam veterans had to return to.
I salute Gene Tessier – for his service to his country, and his service to his community, as one of this community’s most dedicated community volunteers.
I salute all the men and women who have fought in all wars.