THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – Friday, May 24, 2019 Page 15 O’TOOLE | from page 14 chin, the throat and twice in the arm. He’s a former Marine. He’s now a lieutenant on the Boston Police Department. Yes, he survived, but that was a very traumatic day. Q: Anything else that you would like to share about Memorial Day or the Saugus Veterans Council or any special message to the kids of Saugus? Or message to the people? A: My message to the people is come out and see the parade; go to the Riverside Cemetery on Friday, May 24 [today] at 3:30 p.m. – the young kids from school and the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts … they come and place fl ags on all of the veterans’ graves – participate in something like that. I mean, take a moment to refl ect. Sometimes during the parade, when we leave Veterans [Memorial Elementary] School and come down Central Street, there’s no one there. People need to participate and observe the holiday. It’s not just a day off . Take 45 minutes out of your day, maybe an hour out of your day. Come to Town Hall on Saturday, May 25 [tomorrow] when we have our speaker. This year, we have the Secretary of Veterans Aff airs in Massachusetts. Q: Francisco Ureña. A: Yes. A good man – another former Marine. I know him. He’s outstanding – a good guy. Come and just listen for a moment. If you have young children, bring them down to Town Hall. Put down the iPhone; put down the iPad; take the things out of your ears. Stop listening to the music and listen to the message of Memorial Day. That’s all I would like to see happen. And that’s what the Saugus Veterans Council tries to do. Now, the Veterans Council is a unique organization. One, it’s er open to every veteran in the Town of Saugus. Any veteran who served in any branch of the military is automatically a member. There’s no swearing you in; you’re already a member. Please come to the meetings. It’s the fi rst Monday of every month. It only takes about an hour to do the Memorial Day ceremony and the Veterans Day Ceremony. That’s our main function – and we do other things – but those are our main things: Memorial Day and Veterans Day observances. It doesn’t cost you anything to be in the Veterans Council; there’s no annual fee to be in it. We’re not old-timers. What we’d like to do is try to get some young people to join in and get active. It’s very diffi cult in any organization – I don’t care what organization you’re talking about – they all have one concern: Is the organization going to outlive itself because the members are dying off ? Young people aren’t coming into them. We would just like to see young people come in and participate and keep the parade going; keep visiting the schools; talk to the children. They’re our future, so if we don’t tell a message or send a message, the younger generation and generations after them aren’t going to know what Memorial Day stands for. As veterans, we’re not heroes. All you were at one point, a person who raised your right hand and said, “I will.” At one point, you volunteered to serve. That’s it. Okay, some people have done greater things than others, but if they just served and never left the United States of America, they performed a very important, vital function. For every person on the line, there’s four or fi ve behind him or her, so the Veterans Council has tried to keep that going. We do a fl ag-burning. PeoAluminum Everett 10 Everett Ave., Everett 617-389-3839 Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 61 Years! “Same name, phone number & address for over half a century. We must be doing something right!” Owned & operated by the Conti family since 1958 • 57 Years! family since 1958 • 60 •Vinyl Siding •Carpentry Work •Decks •Vinyl Siding ears! •Free Estimates •Fully Licensed •Roofng •Free Estimates •Carpentry Work •Fully Licensed •Decks •Roo ng n • Fully Insured •• Replacement Windows Replacement Windows www.everettaluminum.com g Now’s the time to schedule those home improvement projects you’ve been dreaming about all winter! Everett Aluminum ple might say “A fl ag-burning?” Well, there is an honorable way to dispose of a used and frayed or torn American fl ag, so we have one of them [fl ag-burning ceremony] a year. Q: You have a nice fl ag-burning pit now at Breakheart Reservation that an Eagle Scout built. A: It’s beautiful and built by a Boy Scout. What a wonderful thing for a young person to do. It’s things like that, that give you hope. When he came to us and made a presentation, it was unbelievable; that young man was unbelievable. When you see things like that, you start to go “Yeah, there is a little hope.” Someone is coming behind us. Q: Anything else that you would like to share? A: We all hope that we can get some participation. Just come and listen to the message for a short period of time – and it’s not the barbeque; it’s not the sale – it’s just to honor those who have gone before us and gave the ultimate sacrifi ce. And I think we also have to honor those as of today (2019) that actually step up. One of the greatest parts – the Semper Fi Society luncheon – is they bring in what they call the poolies: They’re not even a recruit yet. They march them in and whoever our guest speaker is – the commandant of the Marine Corps, usually – he swears them into the military. And they look like they’re 12 years old, and they weigh 125 pounds, and of course, we don’t look like that anymore. And to see those young men and women that are stepping up and willing to serve … that’s like a shot of adrenalin to an old-time veteran – to see them stepping up; the old veteran asks, “Why are they doing that? What made them decide Looking for a home loan? 15 YEAR 30 YEAR RATE RATE APR* APR* Learn more about our rates at EVERETTBANK . COM to do that?” You almost want to ask them “Why are you doing this?” And some of them will give you very good answers. But I know why I did it; I know why my friends did it; and I know why members of my family did it – so that gives you hope that the country is still in pretty good shape if we have young men and women who are willing to do that. The one purpose of Memorial Day that I hope people will never lose sight of is that you remember those people who are not able to stand with you because they gave the ultimate sacrifi ce. We have a fellow – an Army Airborne veteran – who shows up every year to march in the parade with us. He still has his blouse boots and wears them with his uniform. I don’t know his name. But he shows up and marches with us to honor those who fought and died. Spring!
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