11.11.2022 Veterans Day Parade

afternoon welcome to live coverage of the Fall River annual Veterans Day Parade we are here outside of government center and we bring you live coverage from the parade I'm Pamela Martin I'm reporter at Fall River government television and I work alongside a fabulous crew here in Fall River the parade kicked off approximately one o'clock from Kennedy Park participants include the veterans Service Officer

Michaela Britto as well as representatives of veterans groups military personnel currently serving and public officials and elected officials here in the city of Fall River I work alongside a team at Durfee High School we bring you live coverage of so many events across the city and much of that coverage includes work by our students at Fall River educational television which is Fred TV you can watch this

parade later on channel 18 or of course stream it live on Facebook and other social media services and devices Veterans Day is an emotional day for those who have loved ones who served and are still serving thank you for those who have come out to see this parade we have approximately 16 million living American veterans in the United States today they represent all eras and all branches it is for them that we Host

this parade and that we say a very proud thank you again we may have had some spotty coverage at the kickoff of this parade so I'll say again you're watching live coverage of the Fall River annual Veterans Day Parade I am proud and privileged to work with an amazing team at Fall River government television too many takao actually we have a fabulous crew and our students as well work

alongside us on many events on at Fall River educational television which operates out of Durfee High School thank you to those who have served it is why we are here today and why we all issue a very proud thank you there are approximately 16 million living American veterans in the United States and that's why we hold this annual event parade kicked off at one o'clock from Kennedy Park in recent decades attention is

finally being paid to a silent injury post-traumatic stress disorder we put a face to PTSD Christopher Azevedo is a decorated Navy and army veteran he also worked as a firefighter and a prison corrections officer in a Maximum Security Prison he served as a specialist in Desert Storm and then realistic following 9 11 for operation enduring freedom in Iraq during his second deployment Chris's military

vehicle took a direct hit he was assigned at that time to the long-range surveillance Department Chris suffered a traumatic brain injury he his chest his spine internal bleeding also was damaged as well as his knees and his legs but despite those injuries Chris decided and insisted on driving the damaged military vehicle three more Maya three more hours dollars back to base despite having three flat tires

his body healed but his spirit and his psyche took a little longer first flashback I ever experienced my daughter at the time was at a indoor soccer field and it's a metal building which called a Morton Building they're all over Iraq yeah so and they have Nets inside this soccer building and they're kicking the soccer ball and the net protects the soccer ball from hitting the wall well

when they were kicking the soccer ball part of the net fell down and I thought nothing of it and I'm sitting here talking to two other mothers with their kids playing soccer and the soccer ball keeps hitting the wall thud thud thud and at the same time because Otis Air Force Base is in line with New Bedford Airport there were two black hawks flying by they you know the pilots get

their hours they were doing touch and goes and then they fly back to Otis that thud's going off and at the same time I hear the helicopters sorry and uh I instantly had a flashback and I wasn't there and I was back in Iraq and uh to me I was next to the flight line where they bring in wounded and I and the thud was the paladins the motorized Gunnery shooting

out into the towns in Iraq and that's what I heard and I woke up to one of the mothers grabbing my arm and she's asking me are you all right and I instantly uh got embarrassed obviously I didn't know what happened first time I ever experienced that and I literally ran out of the indoor soccer field to my truck and 10 minutes later my daughter runs behind me and she's

asking me you know what's wrong and I was I couldn't tell her I didn't understand at the time that was that was my first flashback and then I started to understand and you know I started going to the VA and to other therapists to get help because I understood something was wrong and I was more affected by that second Tour of Duty than I thought it would have been thank you Chris for your bravery your

service and for sharing your story Chris is back on his feet he's nine years sober that's an accomplishment in itself he's working for his master's degree in Psychology he practices holistic healing and he wants to share that gift with others he talks about meditation and prayer exercise good nutrition talk therapy and assistance to others he certainly believes that sharing is caring

if you or a loved one are having fearful and dangerous thoughts please reach out there's no shame Chris wants to make that evident 988 is a 24-hour Nationwide hotline trained counselors will listen and offer local sites for preventative care helps available through Bristol County Samaritans and the National Alliance on Mental Illness I personally want to thank Brenda Venice she's a

dedicated Advocate all done in memory of her brother you can also text home that's h-o-m-e to 741-741 for immediate assistance this text line is especially helpful for teens and young adults October 10th is World mental health awareness day but please let's practice empathy and show compassion to one another the number of homeless veterans is really impossible to pinpoint they are a

transient population they are often simply too embarrassed and too prideful to ask for help but now 42 year old Joshua Dion did just that and he has so much more living to do he reached out he follows a program and many social service agencies were there to help Tracy Dion is proud of her husband Josh Dion served in the United States Navy and was deployed during 9 11. but Josh struggled transitioning to civilian life

and was often unemployed we were homeless and my sister had sent me a message and it was the picture of this building and she said it's a veteran Building look look up look it up we did Josh went down to the office and they said it's a lottery Pick and they were picking in three days so we filled out the application and we got picked that's I feel like we won the lottery

you know I get along with all my neighbors all the neighbors that are here have been here for over 30 years so it's like family we're all together here I love it two years ago the Dions moved into their first floor Bradford Avenue Apartment they had been denied housing countless times until they were contacted by the Community Housing Resource Board they LED free they're affordable each tenant in this building

pays less than a thousand dollars a month for rent the need is great we have over 200 people on a waiting list we just think it's a service that is uh necessary to be provided to our servicemen I'm a veteran and I can appreciate what they went through the Community Development home partnership is a federal program fall River's annual budget is about 1.6 million dollars one by one buildings

such as this are transformed into lovable affordable housing some for vets and some for nod but the waiting list can be excruciating at minimum someone applying for affordable housing can expect a nine month delay a revolving pool of funds pays local contractors to rehab buildings which are sold or rented based on income eligibility Mike Dion executive director of the Community Development agency says the process

eliminates unsavory absentee landlords I meet a lot of people through my job and I meet a lot of homeless people I meet veterans and I I have a model you know if you have if you have 10 million dollars I treat you the same way if you have nothing and um it's very makes me feel good when I see uh win-win situations when I see people their lives becoming better and it's just proven

here I mean it's it's a success story it's a real good program to get into if you're lucky enough to get into thank God I was lucky enough to get into it and I'm just happy and you know my friend I have my family here and it's just it just feels great to have a place to call my own we've been through so much in uh 10 years of marriage but we've overcome everything and hopefully

we'll overcome more agencies continuously look for opportunities to increase the city's housing Supply one by one families are reunited in safe clean affordable homes there is always hope Josh and Tracy I thank you for opening your home to us it was an emotional interview and one that will stay with me for such a long time the families reunited truly reunited thanks to stable housing and programs the Dions have been

reunited with their seven-year-old daughter I wish you peace and healing all of you on this day we can see some people here that are outside government center watching the Veterans Day Parade and remember that afterward the War veterans Council and the City of Fall River will present the annual Veterans Day ceremony we will take you to the atrium then of Government Center Live speakers will include veteran service

officer Michaela Britto and chaplain Ed Bailey as well as mayor Paul Coogan and the national anthem will be performed by my co-worker and friend Evan Masood so again remember that on this day and every day we think of it there are so many service programs that are available here in Fall River I want to point out Ken Levesque who operates the veterans association of Bristol County on Pine

Street with my good friend Kim carvala Wagner they offer assistance to vets of all kinds of assistance that you might need in need of food assistance for health shelter and clothing excuse me also assistance with filing for GI bills and other legal programs that veterans and their families might need help with so the parade did kick off at one o'clock at Kennedy Park we have some marching bands including the njrotc

program out of Durfee High School and it is nice and Breezy here but I want to also remind you that you can watch this program again at channel 18 as well as Chris azofido's full interview that we saw at the beginning of the program Chris of course a very Valiant effort who continues to overcome PTSD and shares the miracle of healing with others if you are watching live on Facebook we thank you for that as well

so I want to remind you again to stay tuned for the ceremony that will happen at the atrium we do have other packs to bring you which include the history of how we became the fourth city in the country to have a replica Vietnam veteran memorial wall but I'm going to hold off on that pack right now because we can see that the police unit is starting along South Main Street right now and we

do not want to have our packs interrupted I thank you for all of the people who are watching also up at the top of government center it's a nice turnout today bit Breezy if you have served or you know a veteran please consider this a proud thank you and always think of that we'll take a listen now as the parade division one gets underway

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here we have the Fall River Police Honor Guard unit

Fall River Police are escorting the gold star family contingent of Fall River

gold star family members have of course loved lost a loved one

War veterans Council Commander Paul Pacheco and post Fall River War veterans Council Commander James Gonzalez thank you for your service Lenny tavar is up there too representing the gold star families

gold star families are always Co Grand Marshals of our Memorial and Veterans Day parades

so you can see the marches and participants taking a ride here on Sullivan Drive they will park their vehicles and then head indoors that is Papa Chico and Commander James Gonzales from the Fall River War veterans Council thank you gentlemen for your service they are so helpful with parades and other events that happen across the city of Fall River to honor our veterans let's take a listen now to

the Colonial Navy Band

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group of people watching this parade today thank you foreign

thank you great group of guys right there so helpful all the time

Michaela Brito veteran service officer in the city of Fall River Corporal Britto is being driven by Marine veteran Raymond dolber and riding shotgun is my mom Willamina Pelletier she's the proud Widow of my dad and army Sergeant Paul Pelletier thank you for your service Ray thank you for your service Michaela and of course Mom thank you for your daily service being my mom love you all very much

rabbit is Michaela's service dog and she's riding in the next car over the Veterans of Foreign Wars coming by next okay thanks Dave all right and wave to our cameras

I really like to see generational involvement in these events it just it just shows respect for the veterans and it it also helps link the generations it helps keep our history alive the history of America the dedication and of course the absolute sacrifices that so many have made thank you okay this is Mr Earl god dad former city councilor and navy veteran and this gentleman has just been a friend of mine

for well nearly 40 years Mr Gaudet proudly continues to wear his Navy uniform from many years ago I think 1953 but don't quote me on that thank you Mr gaudette all right here rests the honor glory of an unknown of an American Soldier known to no one but God this is a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier replica in DC if you've never seen that The Changing of the Guard some of the remains in that tomb have

actually been identified but that's your tradition will never and as you see the changing of the guards in DC VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars post 85 100.

00 so these veterans groups come not only from Fall River they're representing Swansea Somerset Westport Regional really South Coast that turn out despite all the other events happening on the 11th Hour of the 11th day of the 11th month here in the year 2022 they turn out in Fall River big time because Fall River has such a tradition of honoring their veterans and vets post is Heading by now and then we have our

replica Vietnam memorial wall that I spoke of this panel is being towed by Troy City Towing it has the names of over well over 53 000. Fallen Vietnam veterans thank you a wonderful wonderful tribute please check it out at Bicentennial Memorial Park if you haven't already

and the Italian Americans War veterans Club

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we have a little lag over here in the action um but fabulous coverage to those of you watching at home on Facebook or streaming live uh it's it's kind of the glory of social media today I think the ability that we have now to bring these events to folks who are ill at home or unable to get out or simply in another area Mr gaudette has many uh many fans and we thank all of the people

for um for coming out to honor Mr goddad as well as our other veterans that we have a little bit of history of of Veterans Day of course the Armistice treaty was signed on the 11th Hour of the 11th day of the 11th month it did not Mark the end of world war one but it did call a ceasefire agreement with Allied troops and enemies at least until peace agreements could be worked out

between the countries so the history goes back and and I am a history buff and I've just learned so much having met some of these men and women who really are living history representations uh you know don't let time go by before you speak to the elderly men and women in your family don't let that time go by before you record their stories and learn their stories and share those stories because

it creates that Pride not only in a family but that will spur out and be helpful to those around us it's that being being empathetic and caring to others that we talked about earlier in the program to the people to Chris to Tracy to Josh who opened their homes and really opened their hearts and talk to us about their experiences that are so painful and there's really only one reason why they

did it uh they did it to help others to tell others that assistance is there for people who struggle veterans or non-veterans okay let's get a little busy here outside government center uh and I like that but the parade continues on honoring our gold star families thank you and Veterans of Foreign Wars also being represented

hi Mr House so many good people that really come together volunteers from so many agencies to make sure that this happens it doesn't always go off without a hitch but today it's pretty good one o'clock kickoff from Kennedy Park stay tuned because live coverage is coming up of the prayer service and Remembrance service at the atrium my co-worker and dear dear friend Evan Masoud will be singing the National

Anthem as well as God Bless America

this of course is the p-o-w-m-i-a representation that just passed by Fall River holds their pow Mia recognition day evree annual National when it's celebrated and a huge service Megan rathbaum Rathbun is the director of Battleship Cove as we can see a PT Boat replica Heading by right now the world's largest Fleet of retired War vehicle vessels here in Fall River under the direction of Megan Rathbun

First Congregational Church does so much to provide meals for needy veterans here is our Navy njrotc operating out of Durfee High School our Fred TV studio is right across the hall from the ROTC headquarters at Durfee High School Chief William Squires is in charge of the Durfee NJ ROTC a national program and Fall River has received many national awards

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thank you to Victor farius our flag and Grave officer he's also an organizer with this parade and Mr farius makes sure that every single veteran grave in the city receives a flag on Memorial Day all right hilltopper band take it away

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elected officials representative Alan Sylvia mayor Paul Coogan Carol Fiola councilor Andrew raposo Brad Kilby and Laura Washington hello Miss Fall River

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I'll be watching sons of Italy Heading by more good friends of mine laughs Miss Columbus okay the Case High School band under the direction of Pam Reed

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thank you to members of the Fall River EMS under the direction of deputy director Beth fontz the Fall River EMS responds to approximately 22 000 calls every year all right njrotc is right out beside me here practicing uh their drills already and they are parking on Sullivan Drive I wonder if it's open up in the atrium yet uh folks are still setting up and heading in there for the speaking and prayer

service because there's a little lull over here uh so we're moving on again sometimes you get what you uh ask for again Emergency Medical Services Beth fonts thank you she responds to twenty two thousand thousand emergency calls just here in the city of Fall River in one year Department of Community maintenance under the direction of Charlie denmead we see their vehicles these guys and gals are at it every day

keeping our streets clean and safe

and for money understand the rain is coming uh later on this afternoon but we are uh we're lucky that it's holding off so far uh so but we're out here just like the veterans rain or shine every Memorial day and every Veterans Day those are two events that are very and my recent memory have not ever been postponed these parades because of course the live distinction is that the men and women that have been founded of

founders of our country served regardless of the weather or the temperature um again I really want you to take a look at what's happening across the city regarding meals and services and if you do not have a veteran service ID card please head to the veteran service officer Michaela Brito at Government Center those veteran ID cards provide you with many distinctive services as just a way to

a small reflection of thank you to those who have served our country contingent from the Bristol County Sheriff's Office under the direction of sheriff Thomas Hodgson and our Boy and Girl Scout Troops right here in Fall River great organization found it about 105 years ago giving children the opportunity of teamwork responsibility

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okay those boys and girls are from Tim gillette's martial arts studio with the signs Mr Gillette has them in every parade mixed martial arts

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it's okay it's okay it's okay all good to see you I'll be here we'll talk later thank you thank you for your service all right we're brought at the end of the parade here we have the Fall River Motorcycle unit that starts the parade and then ends the parade in the event that there is an emergency they can quickly respond oh There Was You know I think most of the people marching decided to hang

around and meet up with some old friends because this is a very jubilant atmosphere over here um so I think for Veterans Day there's healing to be done right there's always healing to be done always teamwork and we're seeing that evident right now outside of government center so I assume that these folks will also be heading in at two o'clock for the prayer and Remembrance ceremony where speakers will

include veteran service officer Michaela Brito mayor Paul Coogan and numerous representatives from the city council as well as War veterans Council my co-worker Evan Masoud will sing the national anthem and I look forward to that it's a real treat he's a dear friend again if over for government television we're like a family we're a small crew we operate out at Durfee High School alongside the students at Fred TV

we try to bring you as many events Community focused as we possibly can and it feels nice if it's a privilege I have to say to be able to go into your homes and go into your schools and your buildings and your places of worship and talk about what matters to you what makes this city tick so if you are not yet involved in a group please reach out there's so many

marvelous groups in the city of Fall River non-profits volunteer opportunities to help kind of make you feel the spirit of the community and understand Pride because it is prideful living that keeps us all kind and peaceful toward one another well the final bricks have been placed at the replica Vietnam memorial wall as I mentioned earlier in the program ours in fall river is one of

just four walls in the country and the only one on in New England in fact another wall may not be built may not be built within 50 miles that's under contract uh and and it's just a wonderful partnership that has made this wall possible so I would like to now take a run at the wall see if we have that video ready from fall forward thank you is in the Forefront of honoring members of the

Armed Forces the community preservation act funded upgrades to the veterans memorial Bicentennial Park in May 2021 Fall River dedicated the Vietnam veterans memorial wall an 80 scale replica of the original the aluminum panels are engraved with the names of more than 58 000 Heroes killed or missing in action during the Vietnam war the project including Landscaping exceeds Recreation and open space

requirements set by the community preservation Act ten years ago Fall River voters approved a 1.5 surcharge on property tax bills to incentivize history travel and diversity three hundred and ten thousand dollars was designated to build this powerful tribute which has become a location for reflection and healing the park is now fully handicapped accessible and is open to all at no costs dawn to dusk

CPA funds have supported thousands of significant projects in Massachusetts thank you for your continued interest in community beautification and betterment all right and Anthony granham our Fred TV senior did indeed voice that piece he is a true industry professional and we are very lucky to work alongside of him so the street sweeper goes on now that's kind of tradition to close out a parade

and the streets will soon be reopening as folks make their way into the atrian speaking program is presented by the War veterans Council and the City of Fall River it's under the direction of William Demaris as well as mayor Paul Coogan so please stand by that event will be coming to live thank you for watching as always and for those who have served and those who are still serving we send a heartfelt thank you

have a good afternoon

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thank you all for being here to show support to our veterans it's my pleasure to be the MC for today present colors

I pledge allegiance flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all the opening prayer by chaplain Ed Bailey uncover

father God I thank you again for the this wonderful day that you have given us so we can celebrate the veterans of the of America we thank you that we thank you for this day because of all my Fallen brothers and sisters all those that are coming before us all of the ones that are are out there fighting for our freedom today we ask for the blessings for them we ask for continuing blessings upon this event

today in Jesus name we pray amen thank you so much you may all be seated if I could call Evan Masood who will be singing the national anthem

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at the twilight's last evening whose brought stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight or the ramparts we watched were so Gallant and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does The Star Spangled Banner yet way s or the land of the free foreign home of the praise

that was wonderful now City greetings to All Veterans from The Honorable mayor Paul Coogan

I do just want to extend City greetings to all the people that came out today for the parade and everybody that participated uh one thing we should never lose focus of the only reason we're doing all of these events is because of event a vet these are the people that we should be Honor on a day like this and I'm glad we have this ceremony going to do just that so again

thanks for coming out we appreciate it and I hope everybody has a great rest of their day thank you you're gonna speak and some parade remarks from our commander of the War veterans Council

I'd like to thank everyone by thanking those Among Us who despite the risk and sacrifices raise their hands in service and defend excuse me to defend the beauty of this country our veterans active duty service members God duties and reserves your service has helped keep our country and its citizens safe and free I'd also like to thank take a moment to acknowledge those families of service members and Veterans

who helped shoulder the weight of War and the burdens of sacrifice the mothers the fathers the spouses the children our family our military men and women thank you for your love and support and resilience and backbone of the backbone of this nation and that must never be forgotten thank you

we also have our city administrator Seth aitkins who is a veteran himself and will make a few remarks on what is a veteran

good afternoon uh before I start just want to acknowledge and thank our vso Mccalla Brito as well as members of the Department of Community maintenance Charlie denmead Joe Kennedy and certainly couldn't do any of this without the War veterans Council and especially Billy Damaris and all the the countless folks who are never necessarily seen or heard from but play such an integral part in a

celebration like this this Ceremony this parade everyone really came together and uh and worked together in order to pull this together so that we could we could acknowledge this really important day so I just want to say uh thank you to them

so I'm Seth economic City administrator I was commissioned as a second Lieutenant Army engineers in 1997 and I served until 2005. all the world did all sorts of uh things that sometimes when I think back I can't believe that I did and um having done that and having served with uh not just with with other army soldiers but with Marines uh and with air force uh with folks in all sorts of

different units uh with Israeli forces in Australia and English and Italian um it makes this question of what is a veteran sort of a complicated one um because when you know for any of us who've served we realize that there just is no easy definition the fact is we we all start from a certain place but then you go to your different service and from your service you go on to your life

and you do all sorts of different things and some of us keep the haircut others don't all right some of us you know just have very different perspectives on what that service was like the experience in and of itself is very different for each of us and so it's really difficult to kind of to try to put into a single definition what is a veteran but if you go all the way back

to the beginning for anyone in this room that's served it all starts with a choice and that's actually the thing that that binds us together that's the thing that a veteran is it's a choice to defer or even sometimes sacrifice your own American dream so that other people can have theirs that's really what it comes down to if you think about every message that you hear about in society

today and frankly going back to when Jefferson talked about life liberty in the pursuit of happiness the American dream is about the individual pursuit of your own happiness of your own individuality of your own comfort of trying for every generation to be a little more comfortable and a little bit better off than the generation before and the choice to serve is the opposite of all of that the choice of serve is to

do something difficult not easy the choice to serve is to do something that puts aside your own individuality so you can be part of a unit part of a team part of something bigger than yourself that when it works together the way it's supposed to is one of the awesome and Powerful forces for good and for right that this world has ever seen and so for me that's a better a veteran is somebody

who made a choice and that choice is the one thing that we all have in common and that choice was difficult that choice wasn't always comfortable but that choice was so important because for all the things that we enjoy today the Liberties the rights the opportunities it all started with men and women willing to make a choice and I really thank you for being part of this today

I can't even fathom the heartache from apparent family members to lose a loved one while serving our country death gonslow lustrous on Ethan and she has written a poem that I think Gustav family's and the rest of us can all relate to what the heartache is so I'm going to call her up to read the poem that she wrote however I would like to have officer Tyler Andrade come up as

well because he was one of Ethan's well he was Ethan's best friend and I know reading this poem for Beth is difficult so I think having Tyler by her side will help her Beth

now I'm gonna cry all right the name of the poem is the sacrifice I'm nervous sorry thank you for your service we all make sure we said they wrote a blank check willing to give their lives for the freedom of today heroes in the military should never come up come home and fall the freedoms that they fought for are now given to us all the soldier ensures Freedom with every

step he takes the debt that we owe should never be misplaced we celebrate the victories and flags fly so high the other side not seen contains the heartbreaking cries we walk along beside them as if we are in denial ignoring the pain in their eyes which can be seen for many miles they shed their blood in foreign lands all they ask in return is to receive a helping hand the mountain that they climb stopping at

the peak some climbs in life become lonely as they look for the help they seek some seem to live but inside they will never again be alive some come home a flag draped box is how they arrive heart stopped beating and freedom is achieved Heroes come home hoping to receive the help and once again believe their names they honor and we carry around the lists but things must change we must all stand up and insist

teardrops and Footprints can lead some down a wretched path they walk alone and struggle with the aftermath their pain will be felt throughout many lifetimes the road is long given the mountain our heroes must climb the rage that was brought down for all to be free they look around and think so many are like me for every breath that you take and flip through the blue never forget that life as they knew it has

been given especially for you they are the most important person you will ever stop and meet they are the keepers of our freedom and make our lives complete thank you

the city council has two veterans Liaisons myself and my colleague Laura Washington who's on the city council with me um just to introduce people that are here we have state representative Paul Schmidt veteran and state representative Alan Silvia also a veteran my colleague on the council Andrew rapoza mayor Coogan who you well know and school committee person Shelly Pereira on this side

we have these gentlemen who are always helping veterans we have Mr Paul pachico Mr Jamie Gonzales who runs the VFW and Mr Lenny Tavares you met Seth Atkins father Angie and our vso Michaela Britto Michaela is with us until the 15th and she's heading for more money she's heading to the town of Somerset we've all given her glowing recommendations and we thank her for the service that she gave the city of Fall River

now there is a lady by the name of Heather viveris and she belongs to an organization that's called give to those this organization um became an honor of presenting plaques to fallen heroes and it started on October 7th of 2001. 27 days after the attacks on 9 11.

the organization is an exclusive charity to the as you want custom plaques and these plaques for in due of hand work and dedication towards our nation's fallen heroes veterans active duty and their families these plaques in a way is a way to publicly show appreciation to our military Members First Responders and families of fallen heroes that as a nation we give our unwavering gratitude

to their hard work dedication service Duty Fidelity Valor integrity and self-sacrifice that will live on for generations to come so this year the plaques that she has made and the first one will be for Scott Andrews and it will be presented to his mother Mrs Joanne Mello

thank you Robert Barrett and it will be presented to her mother Colleen Barrett

we can have them all stand in line after okay the next one is for Luke Carrero which will be presented to his mother and father Fernando and Victoria his sister and his birth brother Matthew so to all of you thank you so much for being here

the next one is to Michael Constantine and it was supposed to be a friend of his a neighbor who was here and I don't know where he is oh there you are thank you so so very much for coming he was very good friends with Michael thank you so much Paul fegundes presented to his mother Mrs Rose for gundies

that's okay you take your time

the next one is to Ethan gonslow given to his mother Beth Gonzalo you did awesome Kyle Harrington presented to his daughter Faith at Kaylee and his wife faith thank you so much

Jason Poole presented to his wife Linda Poole

foreign and his granddaughter is with his wife

Russell Smith Jr presented to his sister Linda and his grandson Matthew thank you

and to Charles Tavares presented to his brother Bob and his grandson

this is just a small token of appreciation that this organization has done and you'll see on the side samples of their plaques and their plaques Are All Made By Hand by a veteran and that's what he does to help to honor people now these plaques don't just get made costs money to make them and this year it was Collins construction company that provided the funding for these plaques

so I'd like to call up Ashley to take a plaque in honor of Collins Construction Company

thank you and tell Becca we said thank you we could again have Evan Masoud sing God Bless America

God Bless America

stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above from the mountains to the oceans wide with fall God bless America my home foreign

if we could have a closing prayer have a seat a closing prayer by Reverend Andrew sitson who was also a veteran from Iraq foreign I invite you to pray with me

holy God for all those who have stood a watch those who have guarded a post those who defended a nation in hostile Skies or man decks on Angry Seas we give thanks for all the pageantry and the parade of this day Let the Peace that surpasses all understanding descend upon those who came not to their nation's call to Simply take the temperature of the day but with sweat and toil and blood sought

to change the thermostat of the world toward Freedom's warmth let the blessings of true service to the good and the true and the Beautiful be with them all we pray this in your most holy name amen the closing ceremonies I will be telling you what they are but before we get into that I want you to know that every Wednesday at the Corky Row the veterans kitchen Cooks meals for veterans and their families

and they are wonderful meals they're Chef Rob and Chef Sandy who are chefs and they prepare some great food with the help of the staff which is run by Dawn Trahan and they have provided a lovely lunch today so please even if you can't stay and eat it take a sandwich take some salad bring it home and eat it and make sure you say a prayer for our veterans who are no longer with us

closing ceremony Fall River Police and Veterans unit present colors

and we'll be releasing doves as the dubs are released send with them a prayer to all veterans

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thank you all so very much for attending on behalf of the War veterans Council and the City of Fall River thank you for what you do for our veterans and this city we love our veterans and we take care of them so don't just say thank you to a veteran today say thank you every single time you see a veteran have a wonderful day and don't forget to go back and get some food