ROCKLAND — Rockland residents gathered together this Memorial Day in reflection of the men and women who fought battles in the name of the United States.

A respectful crowd gathered at Chapman Park next to Rite Aid to watch the annual laying of the wreath and hear Master of Ceremonies Walker Hutchins, Marshal Rev. Paul Munro, and Rockland Poet Laureate Carol Bachofner.

Bachofner, Poet Laureate of Rockland, is the daughter of Charles Willette, PFC, POW, Purple Heart Veteran of the Battle of the Bulge. She read her original poem, For the Dead.

Bachofner said in an email that she ”wrote the poem to honor the service and suffering of her father, and to commemorate the remembrance of veterans of all wars.

She “asked the assemblage to remember and give comfort to those whose service left them wounded and suffering from PTSD, and mentioned that it is not just the service men and women we honor and remember, but also those left behind who tended to the needs of the nation while their family members fought to keep freedom free.” Click on the attachment below the parade photos to read the poem in full.

While the ceremony took place, hundreds more people lined both sides of Main Street awaiting the continuation of the parade, which started at Boston Financial and dispersed at the Route 17 intersection.

The U.S. Coast Guard Color Guard, the U.S. Marine Corp, American Legion and Veterans of the Armed Services, Boy Scouts, and the Bay Winds North Wind Ensemble all participated in the parade and ceremony.

Boy Scouts recited the Pledge of Allegiance, the Bay Winds North Wind Ensemble, set up on the back of a tractor trailer bed, played patriotic songs, and veterans from the American Legion gave a three-gun salute. 

On a table in Chapman Park, decorative tiles honored area soldiers of previous wars. According to AnneMarie Mathieson, four of the tiles pictured four Mathieson brothers, Everett, Kenneth, Louis and Harry. Louie and Harry were at Pearl Harbor on the Oklahoma.  Eleanor, wife of Kenneth, and Eleanor’s brother Albert Payson were also recognized in the memorial. See tile pictures of Eleanor, Kenneth, and Louie in the first row of small pictures below.

Veterans associated with the Wilson-Holbrook Merritt Post I of the American Legion who’ve passed away this year include:

Vietnam:

Christopher E. Carter, James W. Craven, Ellery McCluskey, Stephen Patterson, Thaxter S. Sedgwick, and Andrew B. York.

Korea:

Milton Clark, Donald F. Demmons, Sr.,  and William C. Nystrom.

WWII:

Meredith P. Dondis, Alvin S. McNielly, George R. Robishaw, and Roland G. Tremblay.

Other veterans to pass this year are Douglas W. Curtis and Orville (Bud) Jameson, Jr.

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com.