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5/25/2020 - Borough of Somerville Memorial Day Service Monday, May 25, 2020 Mayor Dennis Sullivan remarks

 

WELCOME TO MEMORIAL DAY 2020 IN SOMERVILLE. WE GATHER ONCE AGAIN AT THE NEW CEMETERY, SMALL PERHAPS IN NUMBERS. BUT DETERMINED TO REMEMBER THE FALLEN HEROES WHO SURROUND US. THE UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS DAY HAVE REMOVED THE USUAL TRAPPINGS OF PARADES, BIKE RACES, PICNICS, AND TRIPS TO THE SHORE, LEAVING US THE OPPORTUNITY TO FOCUS ON THE SILENT STONES ADORNED WITH AMERICAN FLAGS DOTTING THE LANDSCAPE AROUND US.
 

SACRIFICE IS THE WATCHWORD FOR TODAY. WE IN SOMERVILLE JOIN OUR FELLOW AMERICANS IN A COLLECTIVE EFFORT TO DEFEAT AN UNSEEN AND UNFORGIVING FOE, BUT OUR SACRIFICES PALE WHEN COMPARED TO THOSE OF OUR BRAVE SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN WHO FELL IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM. 

AS WE MARK THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR II, I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK BRIEFLY OF ONE SUCH HERO, A MAN WHOSE NAME DOES NOT MAKE IT INTO HISTORY BOOKS, ALTHOUGH HE WAS THE FIRST RECORDED AMERICAN DEATH IN THAT GREAT CONFLICT. CAPTAIN ROBERT LOSEY, THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR CORPS’ BEST AERONAUTICAL METEOROLOGIST, WAS SERVING IN NORWAY AS THE GERMAN INVASION BEGAN. HE AND HIS UNIT SOUGHT SHELTER FROM THE LUFTWAFFE’S BOMBS IN A NEARBY RAILWAY TUNNEL. INSTEAD OF REMAINING IN SAFETY, LOSEY MOVED TO THE MOUTH OF THE TUNNEL TO BETTER OBSERVE THE ACTION AND PROVIDE MORE DETAIL TO HIS SUBSEQUENT REPORT. WITHIN SECONDS, A BOMB FRAGMENT PIERCED HIS HEART, KILLING HIM INSTANTLY. IT WAS APRIL 21ST, 1940, A FULL 20 MONTHS BEFORE PEARL HARBOR. WHEN HE HEARD OF THE INCIDENT, LUFTWAFFE HERMANN GORING HIMSELF SENT AN OFFICIAL APOLOGY TO CAPTAIN LOSEY’S COMMANDER. LOSEY IS BURIED IN THE MILITARY CEMETERY AT WEST POINT, AND IN 1980 A MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED IN HIS HONOR AT THE WAR MEMORIAL PLAZA IN TRENTON, WHERE HE HAD GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL IN 1924.

 

WHEN OUR SERVICE ENDS HERE AND WE RETURN TO THE CHALLENGES AHEAD OF US, PLEASE JOIN ME IN REMEMBERING THE VALOR OF CAPTAIN ROBERT LOSEY AND THE COUNTLESS MEN AND WOMEN IN UNIFORM WHO RAN TOWARDS DANGER WITHOUT THOUGHTS OF SELF. THEIR BRAVERY SHOULD SUSTAIN US AS WE WALK TOGETHER INTO AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS SOMERVILLE, AND MAY HE ALSO CONTINUE TO BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THANK YOU.

 

MAYOR DENNIS SULLIVAN

BOROUGH OF SOMERVILLE

MAY 25, 2020

 

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