2023 Veterans Day Rolling Parade

you

woo

we

PA

PA

be

come on over here

around

you're going to AR and then you do the same thing

this

bye

n

a

ch

la

wo

EX

about

ah

n

B up

w

d

la

how you

Li

C

just

PA

p

St

you

all right if you do after a while what happened to all

the

toward

e

me

wo

w

n

nah

you

w

yeah pap

viory

n

n

for

e

oh now if you all stand and join us in the pledge of pledge of allegiance oh oh that's it IED aliance to the flag of the United States of America and the republ for it stands one nation God indivisible with and justice for all see I try to steal the Thunder of those two and I I could never keep up with that um at this time I'd also like

to ask uh Council in not only is city council uh Linda Pera not only is she uh a councel but is she she is our Advocate you can sit down please sit down oh she is uh a veterans Advocate and I'd like her to say a couple of words oh the national anthem I get ahead of myself please she was it see they did it to me again they jumped me all right

let's have the national anthem please everybody stand cover yeah your cover

Co

thank you have a seat now I got a little ahead of myself now I'm going to ask our our Grand Marshal this year is a is a a person that I I uh I I don't I can't believe I've been around this long and he hasn't been on Grand Marshall yet and Grand Marshall is kind of Rhymes right in there I'd like to bring forward our Grand Marshall this year Mr Joe Marshall thank

you thank you thank you thank you appreciate that I won't tell you how I got

here uh what what is Veterans Day it's an opportunity to express thanks and appreciation to the brave men and women who have Ser served in the military It's A Day to Remember sacrifices they made to protect our country country and our freedom it also serves as a reminder of the importance of Peace the Gratitude we owe to those who served in the obligation to support veterans in need it's a debt that everyone would

gladly pay if history ended differently and our military not fought in World War I World War II Vietnam Korea Afghanistan and those Wars that we have yet to fight veterans are not a class of people there are you and I they're just a group who just happen to give a portion of their life to firstly firstly to keep the country and its citizens safe and secondly to help other countries taste

Freedom many people and I I think my veteran friends many people have said to me thank you for your Serv service and my reply is I was proud to serve thank

you at this time I'd like to ask uh state representative Carol Fiola and The Honorable mayor Paul Coogan to make a special presentation oh and also our great Senator Mike rodri thank you thank you Charlie give me a second here if you will uh such an honor to be here today with um everyone a special thanks to the dery high school marching band they were fabulous weren't they and U let's give it up for

them the Young Marines always a wonderful presence and in our community of course with all my colleagues here you know that serve every day the city of Fall River and uh please give them a big round of applause because they are so special too but today I came uh for a special presentation but first want to thank all of you veterans here today um all the gold F star families it's always very special to have you

here as well but I'm especially honored to be here as we recognize a Vietnam veteran who has not been given all of the recognition that he deserves over the past 10 years as a state representative and all my colleagues from time to time visit places around the city and get to meet so many interesting people everyone has a story I've met so many people at senior centers the housing developments

out in the community and for most of those years a particular I resident incredible life has slipped under the radar that is until this past May when I learned of Mr Charles Norman ganon's time in the Vietnam War and a medal that he had earned but had never received working alongside and with Congressman aen Claus's office who could not be here today we were able to track down the service of Mr Ganon and was able to

track down his medal but before I tell you about this medal let me first tell you about Charles and his service to our country that earned him such high recognition Charles Norman gon and for you sitting here today he's a very humble man absolutely does not want to be highlighted but please keep your eyes on him because he's a great man and a very uh it's very important um he served for three years

in the United States Army from 1963 to 1966 after train training specifically in helicopter repair after arriving in Vietnam in 1963 Charles quickly became a crew chief flying over 225 assault combat flights for 12 to 16 hour shifts seven days a week for a span of nine months his commitment to our country is reflected in the nine ear medals Charles earned during this time of which he is most prow after his tour

in Vietnam Charles returned to the US to finish his years in service and in January of 1965 just three months shy of the Vietnam War ending Charles received news that he received a medal for his courageous work in December of 1964 where he helped lead a decisive victory over the Viet Kong this work earned him the highest award that could be bestowed upon an individual from the Armed Forces of of

the Republic of Vietnam an award that he was yet to receive until today almost 58 years later thank you Charles for your service thank you we're not done though during this time Charles has lived a very full life he has worked as an aircraft repairman at the Newport navy base repaired boats at a marina in Portsmith Rhode Island been a business owner and his own boss and even completed an associates degree in

Business he has worn many hats some of those being husband father of nine children some of which are here today Crew Chief and Vietnam veteran before presenting this award I would like to read the letter as received by Charles on January 19th 1965 specialist fourth class gyon is a brave and courageous soldier who assisted the government of Vietnam forces in achieving a decisive victory

over the Viet Kong during operation Zan 100sd conducted on the 27th of December 1964 named dayi Republic of Vietnam specialist fourth class gyon performed his duties as crew chief aboard a uh-1b helicopter in an outstanding manner while transporting Vietnamese hellborn soldiers to battle with personal pleasure I forward this award from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam

I wish to express my congratulations to you for your outstanding performance of Duty that has won you this honor as your commanding officer I commend you on receiving the Vietnamese Cross of gallantry with palm this is the highest award that can be bestowed upon an individual by the Republic of Vietnam and you can be justly proud to receive it today November 11th 2023 almost 58 years later I am honored to

present you along with may Coogan please step up Senator Rogers representative syvia represent representative Schmid please join us in front of your friends family and uh present you with the Vietnamese cross in front of your friends family where did it go oh thank you I was like where did it go Mr Ganon thank you where are you for your service please join us please stand please stand and acknowledge Mr

G and this is the

award

why don't you stand right there and on behalf of I'm G to finish up my part I've gone on long enough but it was well worth it Mr gyon my colleagues from the from the House of Representatives first of all on behalf of myself representative Paul representative Al Allan Sylvia themselves fine veterans who I'm honored to serve along especially today on Veterans Day uh we have this citation for you presented to

the specialist fourth class Charles Norman gyon in recognition of your Brave and courageous work in the Vietnam War as Crew Chief and for receiving the Vietnamese Cross of gallantry with palm signed by our Speaker of the House Ron Mariano on this day November 11th 2023 uh thank you for your service I'll put that down on your you want to hold it you got it you show up okay Charles stay right there please

uh that was truly a great story but it was a story about his life and that's how he lived and these are the people that we don't recognize enough what they did for our country and as mayor of the city for River I'm extremely pleased to be able to come here today and join all of you and we're all on the in the same boat today to honor Charles ganyon and in honor and recognition of his

receiving the Vietnamese Cross of gallantry with palm from the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam in 1963 it's a day that was put off for far too long and I tip my hat to Charles and all his efforts for this country

thank you very much um on behalf of the state senate I also have a citation recognizing Char's accomplishments and it's signed by The Honorable Karen spilka president of the state senate but let me just say standing here I'm thinking you know being Veterans Day on television they're replaying that amazing series called the band of brothers and there's an opening scene in one of the episodes where Lieutenant

dick Winters uh was being interviewed and he relays a story of his grandson asking him Grandpa were you a hero he goes no I wasn't a hero but I served amongst many of them and today I say we're standing in the presence of a real hero Charles thank you for your service

Mr gon can we ask you to say a few words um just just if you'd like I you're here I know this was against everything you wanted to see happen minutes um and before you do though I do want to let you know that Congressman aren cross could not be here today um he himself is a veteran in the Marines and he wanted to present this citation from the United States House of Representatives uh in

recognition of and I need my glasses Charles gyon um in recognition of your receiving the Republic of Vietnam gallantry of cross with palm medal for your selfless dedication and service to your country on this date November 11th signed by Jay gin Claus so someone else um I don't know that and I and I don't know it is a medal of he asked me if there was anyone else who ever got this

award and um I I'm not sure um how many people have Mr G we can find that out but today is your day and uh we are grateful and honored on behalf of all of the city of Fall River representatives and City councilors and school committee people here today um I got to tell you 10 years I'd go to where he lives in um in his housing and you know like we all

do everyone here goes and visits and brings food and snacks and pizza and we want to hear from the people who live in the city of Fall River on a regular basis and he was quiet as a church mouse every single year he'd sit there we'd eat the pizza or eat the donuts or whatever we brought and then one day he walked downstairs he he said wait a minute while we were there and went up

and came down with this this papers and he said H can you do anything about this and thanks to a lot of good people we did so it's your day you'd like to say a few words thank you that's it city council president Joe thank you K I also want to thank everyone for being in what a wonderful day isn't it to be in the presence of a true hero someone that we hear about all

the time but how many people actually get to see someone who served the country as he did so from the bottom of my heart I don't want to go on too much but thank you so much for what you did for our country as all the veterans have keeping not only this country safe but as was mention earlier saving the rest of a lot of other places in the world we

are there for everyone thank you so much for what you do we appreciate it to all the veterans thank you so so much thank you k he said he was just doing his job spoken like a true hero city council Linda Perera is the Veterans leaon and she has well this was most enjoyable I was delighted to see this so today we honor all of our veterans who placed their lives in danger for our

freedom they left their families their homes their lives they fought to protect our country for our freedom to maintain our way of life let's also honor those who are presently serving in the military when I look at the cruel world around around us I say to myself we can protect our freedoms by maintaining it here in America speaking out against Injustice and making sure that everyone benefits from

Freedom by volunteering in our communities by teaching our children what it is to be an American listen to the words we just said on the Pledge of Allegiance One Nation one nation under God what do you think God's thinking about us now it says with liberty and justice for all do we all have the same liberty and justice this is why veterans fought for our freedom honor our veterans honor them by being good

Americans today is a day that we honor all of our veterans but they should be honored every single day so when you see a veteran who's wearing a cap like many here with the branch of service that they were in by God can't you just say thank you my dad was a veteran and he died and this was his hat and when he died the only thing my daughter Shelly wanted was his

hat because he taught us in our family what it meant to be a veteran so please honor our veterans by being good Americans God bless you all and may God bless the United States of America thank

you thank you and uh I I I I have to say that just being in the presence of Mr gon is uh non in itself um and I'm speechless over that but um I I'd like at this time to to just uh recognize uh um some of the elected officials that are here with us today in um with the uh city council president uh Mr Joe camra um you just heard from uh Council Linda

Pereira uh councilor Laura Washington and also uh councelor Andrew uh proposal also we have with us his school committee uh uh members uh Shelley Pera and uh Tom Corey um I told I stole it from you um again I'd also like to make sure we acknowledge our gold star families who are here with us today uh they for sure deserve a few minutes on this day for us to reflect on their families and the

loss that they've suffered so I just want to take a minute and acknowledge them you can have it back now thank you one egg of a team right here um so with that being said at this time I would like to bring up Reverend Stinson with a closing prayer please

I invite you to join me in the spirit of prayer oh Lord Creator and protector of us all do not let our appreciation and love for the sacrifices of our Warriors end with our ceremonies today grant them your continued blessing give them your protection in the way they once exended their protection to our nation when it called for their service instill in them the honor and joy of service well given

from a grateful people and grant us all your heavenly resolve not only to honor those who have borne the battle but to make our world a place worthy of receiving the sacrifices that our Warriors have laid down for it having borne witness to such great love and service today do not let us forget Small Deeds Done are greater than big plans made and challenge us with your vision

not of how the world is but how it might be and how the streets of Fall River May mirror your heavenly city as we depart send your traveling mercies to go with us all remembering always whatever light we may shine whatever righteousness we may live out whatever good comes it all comes from you for this we pray in the name of all that is Holy amen amen

at this time Mr Larry barola will lead with TAPS in dery high school B member Omar m mmud please

stand

for

okay now we'll have a white dove release provided by doves by Paula and that will conclude our service for our ceremony for today oh that's oh that's certainly going to be outside if we release here uh the then you'll see the vice principal reenacted again and I'm in trouble okay so I would like to thank everybody for attending like I said it was a this was the best uh uh ceremony

I've seen in quite some time thank you everybody yes outside how much attention would I

get

about that me out are we live

you're

Bo

ready

yeah see yep maybe you lost