Continuing an annual tradition, the Town of Westford commemorated those who have served in a solemn Sunday morning ceremony on the town common.
The event began with a series of parades around the town’s memorials to veterans, as a reading of Westford residents who have served in American wars simultaneously occurred on the common.
Just after noon, one final parade including the Westford Academy marching band, honor guards from the Westford Police and Fire Departments, minutemen and other veterans commenced at the Roudenbush Community Center. This parade traveled down Main Street, stopping to pay tribute at memorial sites next to the Central Fire Station and several memorials on the common.
State Senator Eileen Donoghue, State Representative James Arciero and Selectman Kelly Ross provided speeches honoring those who have served America, and in a first for the annual ceremony, local boy scouts performed a flag replacement ceremony.
The event concluded with the playing of Amazing Grace by the Westford Fire Department Pipes and Drums, but not before Westford Fire Department Firefighter David Christiana presented a bronze replica drum. Christiana’s drum, which will be part of a larger minuteman monument coming to Minot’s Corner, commemorates the 77 Westford minutemen led by Lt. Col John Robinson as they confronted the British at North Bridge in Concord on April 19, 1775.
As with the 9/11 memorial next to town hall constructed by Christiana, the drum and upcoming monument is funded by the Westford Remembers Memorial Fund.
You must be logged in to post a comment.