North County Marks Memorial Day With Mount Greylock Trek, Ceremonies
Laurie Boudreau sings the national anthem during Memorial Day ceremonies at Clarksburg Town Hall on Sunday.
"Past commanders have been coming up here for 93 years. I have been coming up for 64," said Adams American Legion member Donald Sommer. "We have had all kinds of weather, but this is some of the worst. It shows the dedication that we have for those who have gone before us and made the ultimate sacrifice."
Heavy winds and sleet met the motorcade at the summit. The Veterans War Memorial Tower — first built to honor World War I veterans — was barely visible and the 30 or so veterans and their families made their way to the memorial arm and arm, fighting the wind.
The ceremony was held inside of the monument with only a rifle squad and taps player briefly stepping outside to conduct their part of the truncated ceremony.
"It is important that we continue these ceremonies, not only for us, but for everyone else," Sommer continued. "So they remember what happened."
Veterans met early at the Adams American Legion Post 160 and promptly formed a motorcade to scale the mountain. The oppressive weather forced the Legion Riders off their motorcycles.
The group met at the Jones Nose Parking lot about halfway up the mountain to enjoy a traditional cocktail and toast fellow veterans.
"This is for those who made the ultimate sacrifice," said Mike Lewis, commander of North Adams American Legion Post 125. "The weather is not nice, but you know they faced weather like this, and it didn't stop the war. It didn't stop the fight. So we always find a way to get up here."
The cold and rain on Sunday canceled planned parades in Hancock and Lanesborough, with the latter town holding observances under the pavilion at Bill Laston Park.
Clarksburg's ceremony went on but without the Drury High School band over concerns of damaging their instruments. An honor guard made up of firefighters in dress uniform stood in the rain and two dozen or so residents clustered under umbrellas on the front lawn of Town Hall.
Joseph Bushika of Peter A. Cook VFW Post 9144 was master of ceremonies, and spoke of the 31st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment under then Col. Benjamin Butler (later major general and governor) of Lowell.
"Initial enlistees included men from Berkshire County and nearby Southern Vermont," he said. "Many here today had no knowledge of it, nor its history, but it played a vital role in America's Civil War."
Initially known as the Western Bay State Regiment, the regiment boarded a steamship in Boston bound to the Ship Island, the site of what would become Fort Massachusetts, off the coast of Mississippi.
"The 31st was next assigned to garrison duties at Fort St Joe's in Fort Jackson in Louisiana," Bushika said. "It must have been an alien world to those Berkshire County boys who never ventured more than a few miles from their homes during their lifetime. Tropical heat, swamp, alligators, poisonous snakes, and mosquitoes."
They would participate in the actions against Fort Hudson, a strategic Confederate post on the Mississippi, that fell to Union forces on July 9, 1863.
One of the first to enlist was John Sitterly of Clarksburg, then 22; he was killed two years later on the morning of May 23, 1863, outside Fort Hudson, one 4,000 casualties. His grave is unknown.
"He would never again return to his beloved home and family," said Bushika. "When his nation needed him, he answered its call, and it cost him his life, but his devotion to his country and its preservation of liberty and democracy should surely instill admiration from us all. ...
"I shall take a few moments this day, and thank him and others for their courage and dedication to duty and paying the ultimate price."
Laurie Boudreau sang the national anthem and "God Bless America"; eighth-graders Remee Stred and Allison Van Deusen gave the Gettysburg Address and Scott Kincaid read "In Flanders Fields."
Ceremonies in Lanesborough moved to the protection of the pavilion at Bill Laston Field.
Mount Greylock Regional School student Kennidie Johnsen, master of ceremonies, and Memorial Day Committee member Stacy Parsons thanked the few dozen people for coming out.
Select Board Chair Deborah Maynard emphasized the importance of coming together as a community to serve as her father had.
"We not only mourn them, but more than that, we honor them with our actions through the way we live, no matter our differences," she said. "It's how our community shows up for one another, how we serve one another, and how we gather today as a community for one purpose. My father served in the Army during the Korean War, and after returning home, he served his community as a member of the Lanesborough Volunteer Fire Department."
Ruth Knish was thanked for starting the Hometown Hero banners, the Dalton American Legion did the rifle salute, and the Mount Greylock High School band performed the national anthem and taps.
The keynote speaker was Veteran Services Officer Kurtis Durocher, a retired Army master sergeant, spoke on the importance of remembering those who have served.
"As humans, we often have short-term memories. Life moves fast. The news changes by the hour. Our attention is pulled in many different directions. But there are some things we must never allow ourselves to forget. The names, the faces, the stories, and the sacrifices of those who died in service to this nation must always remain in our hearts and in our history," he said.
"That responsibility belongs to all of us, but it is especially important that we pass it on to younger generations. Our children and grandchildren must understand that the freedoms they inherit were not free. They were paid for by real people, people who had families, dreams, and futures. Teaching young people to remember is one of the most important ways we can honor those who never came home."
He also spoke on the importance of honoring the fallen through how we live: caring for veterans, supporting military families, teaching children what Memorial Day means.
"We honor them when we are good citizens, good neighbors, and faithful stewards of the freedoms they died defending," he said.
David Bartels Troop 4 and Jackson Bartels Pack 42 were to lay the wreaths and the Rev. William Mulholland of First Congregational Church of Becket to give the opening and closing benediction but could not attend because of the time change.
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