The photo below shows the World War II memorial on Veterans Green, across from Westport Town Hall, where a ceremony takes place after today’s parade (approximately 10:30 a.m.). Other monuments there honor veterans of other wars.
If you’ve been to a Memorial Day ceremony on Veterans Green, you know how meaningful and powerful it is. If you’ve never been: make this the year.
Just for a few seconds, put your best friend’s name on that wall.
Now ya got it. All great men. All someone’s best friend 🙏🇺🇸
Incredible day where everybody stands together to commemorate the fallen. Much appreciation for your sacrifice.
These are absolutely the hardest times that I can remember in 77 years on this beautiful earth!
I lived in Westport for a short time graduating from Staples in 1963. But, I didn’t feel like I was part of Westport at any point. My father worked at Bridgeport Brass. My mother worked at the Clam Box– A waitress for 57 years. I had/have no Pedegree just a multitude of jobs and very hard work since I was 14. I am now 77. There were many, many families like mine in Westport that no one ever heard about and probably never will.
My father was not a veteran at all just a survivor of a small industrial accident on a regular job in his long blue-collar career that left him in the 4F category. In school growing up I spent time practicing getting under my desk or making myself as small as possible against a brick wall to avoid being roasted by “the bomb“.
A regular American life in anywhere USA.
I just made a tiny, recurring donation of $5/month to the DLCC that I REALLY can’t afford but it will be matched three times so I HAVE TO in order to support my Citizenship in this amazing country!
I say all of this because my last name, that I have to give in order to register what I have to say about this day and why I subscribe to 06880 at all might imply that I am wealthy and I don’t want anyone to think that I am. I come from normal work a day stock and so did my husband‘s parents but their work was more visible and supportive of everything that this day in this time in this town on the earth implies.
So, I am making this comment here to honor them and their work and, to plead with you as they would, I believe, to make a similar contribution for any amount that you can – and I hope that those amounts from some of you at least will reflect the power of this community that somehow has collected some of the most progressive, hard-working people in the world. (I know that many of you have made these contributions all along.)
Anyway, in the name of Tracy and June Sugarman who would be OK, I think, about the fact that I am using their names in this way, on this day in this town- use what you got to further the cause- I say: Tracy is a veteran of Storming Utah beach and so led the Memorial Day Parade as Grand Marshal here more than a decade ago. He and June worked tirelessly to promote the cause of civil rights and respect for all people for many decades (see the collection of films from Rediscovery Productions– educational films made by them and Bill and Eli Buckley- in your superb library that doesn’t ban books.)
Honor the veterans from our country and all countries, including the Ukraine. SUPPORT THE PEOPLE TRYING TO GET ELECTED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY TO DO THE MULTITUDINOUS JOBS REQUIRED TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE DONE BY SOME MISGUIDED PTSD SURVIVORS OF THEIR OWN LIVES AND FAMILIES. AND, LET US GET ON WITH CREATING THE WORLD THAT WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE AFTER ALL OF THIS STRUGGLE- FOR OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN AND GREAT GRANDCHILDREN!!
We have to do it to earn our own self-respect!
GIVE UNTIL IT HURTS EVEN IF YOU ARE RICH!!
EVERYONE WILL THANK YOU THROUGH ALL TIME, at least until the next ice age which may be tomorrow. Who really knows?