The North Park Memorial Ceremony, held on May 29, 2023, in Fall River, Massachusetts, was a solemn observance of Memorial Day, honoring fallen service members and supporting Gold Star families. The ceremony began with the presentation of colors and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Claire Gorvin, followed by an opening prayer from Father J. Matic. Mayor Paul Coogan, Police Chief Gavin, Fire Chief Roger St. Martin, Veterans Service Officer Michelle Hamilton, and State Representative Carol Fiola all delivered remarks, emphasizing the sacrifices made for freedom and the importance of remembering those who died in service. Speakers specifically acknowledged four local young men: Michael, Sergeant Robert Barrett, Specialist Scott Andrews, and Sergeant First Class Eric Iman. Throughout the ceremony, speakers expressed gratitude to the Gold Star families for their immense loss and highlighted the community's commitment to never forgetting their loved ones. Bill Damaris spoke on behalf of the Fall River War Veterans Council, and an unnamed City Councilor served as the acting Master of Ceremonies, delivering heartfelt remarks about Gold Star Mothers. The ceremony concluded with a closing prayer by Father J. Matic, the placement of a wreath by Robert Barrett's mother, the retirement of colors, and the playing of Taps by Larry, accompanied by the release of doves.
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0:32and now I'm gonna have my friend Claire gorvin she's going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all that was beautiful thank you so much for helping us today
1:03and we'll have our opening prayer from father J Matic
1:18good morning everybody we pray together almighty God as we begin our gathering by giving you thanks and praise for all your gifts and blessings on this Memorial Day morning we thank you especially for the gifts of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness we cherish them and thank you for them on this Memorial Day we remember with much gratitude the men and women who have fought our country's battles
1:52throughout the years to ensure that the people of this land could live in the way that you have designed we devote this day to specifically remembering the men and women who have paid the ultimate price to guarantee that we who are left behind might live with those gifts mentioned above this morning We Gather at this Memorial remembering four local young men who pay that ultimate price in order that we
2:23never forget them or their sacrifice we can thank them by living Our Lives each day according to your will today as we remember Michael Robert Scott and Eric along with all others who have made the ultimate sacrifice in order that we might live in true freedom we ask you to give them the peace for which they fought and died and to hold them in the palm of your hands until that day when through your
2:56mercy we will hopefully be reunited with them in your presence in the Heavenly Kingdom throughout this land and Beyond this day we remember all who fought and died for the freedoms we cherish as we honor them and thank them we also pray for their families and friends including those who are here today who mourn their deaths every single day of their lives may we all have the strength to live our
3:27lives in a way that is pleasing to you and thus do our part to honor them and their sacrifices so that they may not have died in vain amen amen thank you Father you may all have a seat at this time we have greetings from the mayor of the great city of Fall River The Honorable Paul Coogan obviously I want to thank everybody for coming out on this lovely Memorial Day thank you George is this better
4:09hello okay I want to thank everybody for coming out on this lovely Memorial Day morning these four gold star families are very special to me because I seem to have gotten to know them over the years one of them was my student at Durfee and it brings me tremendous heartbreak to see what happens to these families after they lose a loved one in uh in combat we acknowledge them on a memorial day and
4:34all of the veterans that gave their life to make this country a better safer place to live and I will be at all these events always just to acknowledge their sacrifice and what they've done for all of us thank you very much comments from the chief of the Police Department chief Gavin
5:04I'm honored to be here today as we remember those who have sacrificed so we could live in Freedom it's also a bit personal for me as I said in the first 100 first field artillery unit a unit that some of these men served in some of them I knew very well I certainly share a bond with those who have served and those who are proud to have called themselves red legs
5:29today I want to honor all of these true heroes to offer a solemn thank you to the gold star families for their sacrifice as well and lastly as a father of three I wanted to ensure that we remember the Fallen and to be sure that we never forget to educate our young that their rights their Privileges and freedoms were all paid for by the ultimate sacrifice of the courageous soldiers that we remember
6:01today on Memorial Day thank you thank you chief next we have the chief of our fire department
6:25good morning for those who don't know me my name is Roger St Martin the fire chief I started my career right down the bottom of this hill almost 37 years ago Victor Farris the flag officer he's right behind me here now and special service Lieutenant asked me to attend to speak this moral service at first I told him I have a pretty busy weekend I rescheduled 10 other memorials the parade family family meeting family
6:50cookouts and stuff and other things to do on this Memorial Day weekend I looked at my schedule and calendar and it read Memorial Day and then I thought about it and concluded this day isn't for me it's not for my family it's it's for them it's for the the soldiers Sailors Marines Air Force members Coast Guard that lost their life to protecting us it's for them the silent Heroes those Heroes
7:17inscribed on the monument behind me private Michael I hope I say it correctly Sergeant Robert Barrett specialist Scott Andrews Sergeant First Class Eric Iman and all the Fallen Veterans as well as their families and friends for you it's not about us these men and women don't have the luxury to decide what they want to do on this Memorial Day they've already given everything they possibly could to our
7:42country and should be our Focus today and always having served in Iraq 2004 2005 and other deployments as well I and especially my family understand the sacrifice of service all service members families understand this however no one other than those who experience the personal heartache could have a grasp the gravity of having lost someone defending our freedom for that I thank my Fallen brothers and
8:10sisters for their service and sacrifice and although she must continue on without their son their daughter a father a mother a brother a sister an uncle an aunt a cousin or a friend in closing thank you for taking the time to remember the reason why this holiday is so today I want to thank Vic for helping me refocus my thoughts regarding this day and if you visit a cemetery today or any
8:39time bring some change with you if you place a penny on a service member Graves it means you visited them if you see or leave a nickel it means that someone or you trained with them if you leave us see a dime it means that you deployed with them and if you see or leave a quarter it means you were there when they made the ultimate sacrifice these small tokens of us are for the
9:02service members but more so for the family and friends that they leave behind unless we forget thank you very much and enjoy the Memorial Day thank you Chief St Martin next we have the veterans service officer of the city of Fall River Michelle Hamilton who's very tired she's worked hard all weekend and prior to that in all of the planning I think she has done an amazing job for her first Memorial Day in Fall
9:36River thank you Michelle good morning everybody and thank you so much for being here this truly is what it's all about gold star families the folks who've paid the ultimate sacrifice I'm a mom too I can't even imagine the loss of my child and how long that must linger I'm so sorry for your loss and so grateful as well because you raised Heroes and that's significant I can't thank this community enough and
10:09uh I just want to say thank you to my count my other half and planning all of this stuff Bill Damaris from the Far River War veterans Council he really helped me to pull this all together and worked very very hard to make this happen for your families so I just want to say thank you so much and thank you and I'm so sorry for the sacrifice thank you Michelle also Charlie denmead who's the commander
10:39of the war veteran Council has an injury from yesterday and the activities so he has sent Bill Damaris in also Lenny Tavares members of the war council very active members to say a few words on his behalf thank you thank you Linda good morning on behalf of the Four River Veterans war council we wanted tank and the gold star families the Gold Star Mothers and to just reflect on what
11:13Michelle said my wife and I lost the son not in not in battle but uh to a heart attack and it like my wife keeps saying this this isn't the way life should be all my prayers go out to you God bless you and thank you thank you Mr Tavares now I'd like to introduce to you the state representative from this particular area who is always there with the veterans I see her at every event
11:53our state representative my state representative and friend representative Carol Fiola thank you councilor to our gold star families here today sadly this is your day This Is A Day to Remember the Heroes that you gave to the country we hear the word Freedom isn't free right we hear that all the time we say it we hear it this is evidence right here that it isn't free the city of Fall River does an amazing
12:27job of honoring not only our veterans but our fallen heroes especially of course today on the day it's about that we started the celebration at Oak Grove Cemetery for the Civil War was 600 000 men uh were killed we still honor them today rest assured gold star families we will be here to honor your sons moving forward and never forgetting um this is um so heart-wrenching for us when Joanne
13:07asked me to be here today to say a few words sadly she had to take off for you know unfortunately um your heart breaks because this is what you get right this is the day that we can look at you in the eye and say thank you we're sorry but what we can do every day is what the chief said and what everyone here said we won't forget we can't forget looking
13:37at the stories of these young men they live Beautiful lives until they were cut short too early and we should as it was mentioned teach our young people about them and so today I want to thank you for allowing me to be here and let you know whether we celebrate and honor their lives here in Fall River or in the future at the global war on terrorism monument that will be constructed at the
14:03National Mall in Washington no one will forget them thank you for letting us be here today God bless you all and God bless America thank you thank you Carol I just want to take a moment to introduce some of my colleagues that are here with us today president of the city council Joe Camara one of my colleagues Andrew raposo and my colleague Brad Kilby who wanted to give up a seat so other speakers
14:35could say I appreciate that thanks for helping out well let me give you a few remarks when Joanne asked me to speak here today of course I said yes it was before Mother's Day what 15 days ago and on Mother's Day I went out for lunch with my daughters I saw a woman give an 8x10 photo to another woman and it was a photo of a military handsome young fellow all dressed you
15:05know the picture that they take right before or after boot camp so I assumed it was the mother giving it to the grandmother and I looked at it and I sat there and thought God please let this young man return home safely I thought about gold star families but in particular I thought about the Gold Star Mothers and what their mother's day was like and I read something that I
15:30thought I would share with you today to the mothers I hold you in my heart I think of you when I look at a four-year-old boy laughing through a game of Hide and Seek wondering someday if he'll be counting his quiet breaths while hiding in a foreign land I picture your little guy bringing home a gold star sticker on his first spelling assignment you tasseled his hair and tell him how proud you are
16:00but now that Gold Star Sticker has a totally different meaning I think of how many times you played peekaboo always knowing when you moved your hands he'd be there but I think of your hands so often folded in prayer for his safe return writing letters to a place you never imagined let alone a place where your child would be all those first experiences with your little boy the dirty worms that he would
16:33bring home the buried Treasures he would find I wonder if he played Soldier I wonder if he knew that he'd grow up to be a real life hero today is a day to honor your child but we know it shouldn't be just today I imagine not a day goes by that you don't feel the hole in your heart you did everything right moms we have so much to learn from you how
17:02you raise the child willing to serve what lessons you taught between breakfast and bedtime that molded a human so selfless so brave so compassionate and so caring that they chose such a worthy cause like representative Fiola said we hear repeatedly that freedom isn't free but you moms have paid the ultimate price I wish I had the right words to say to you I wish we could turn back the hands of time
17:38we've given so much it seems inadequate to only give you reassurance in return but we offer this your sacrifice was not in vain your baby will never be forgotten to the moms and dads and gold star families neither will you God bless you all and God bless the United States of America thank you father Matic if you could do the closing prayer
18:22almighty God we praise you and thank you for all your gifts and blessings thank you for allowing us to gather here today to remember the Fallen men of our city and the countless others from throughout the world who have given their lives in service to their countries we ask that you have them safe at home in your heavenly Kingdom give them the peace that they fought for while they lived here in this world and
18:54may their example and the example of so many others who have sat made that ultimate sacrifice help us to treasure all the more the gift of life that we have and may we remember them each day by seeking to do your will in all that comes our way for your honor and glory and for the good of our brothers and sisters we pray for peace throughout the world may all these wars that we experience so
19:22often be put to rest and may you give to the people of this world the grace and strength to work together for the greater glory of yourself and for the good of all mankind and we ask that you continue to strengthen those who have those families who have lost a loved one in battle give them the strength to move forward and in gratitude to you for the gifts and blessings you've bestowed upon them
19:52may they live their lives fully comforted by knowing that their sons and daughters gave the ultimate sacrifice they gave their life for their country for their families and for this world please watch over guide them and bring them to the kingdom that we all seek to long for in the days and years that lie ahead we ask this in your name amen thank you Father Matic at this time I'd ask to come as a gold
20:27star mother and place a wreath her son is Robert Barrett with the assistance of council president
20:44retire colors
21:02at this time we will have taps played by Larry and dubs being released
22:08I thank you all so very much for attending this Ceremony this morning and I'm sorry unfortunately I got thrown into being MC because Joanne had an issue I hope I did a good job I hope that I did it respectfully for the gentleman that are on this and the families and all of you thank you very much have a wonderful day and keep God bless Fall River in your mind thank you