thank you very much carol so nice to see everyone here today always a great turnout here for memorial day i'm glad the weather is held off i know the sun's going to come out at some time but look at everybody and how shop all of our colored gods wor police and fire boy scouts and girl scouts thank you very very much at this time i would like to lead you and out pledge of allegiance if you will follow repeat followers of the pledge of allegiance i pledge allegiance to the thank you very very much belmont high school moron it is thank you so much at this time i would like to invite colonel paul minor chaplain mass i'm a national guy co pastor of the all are one or two who feel moved to join me in prayer please do so less of god we've come to this hollow ground to remember to remember our honored dead who are laid to rest in this place but not only here but and cemeteries around our country and around the world and those who are laid to rest of god in places that only you know we remember before you all those who grieved those who lost loved ones remember the blood shed were remember the sacrifices and the suffering we pray god that all of that sacrifice will have meaning in our national story as we think about our founding generation and their aspirations for our nation may we somehow weave the suffering and to that national story and thereby find meaning and all that have been lost and pray for our nation that you would bind us together as we affirmed in the pledge of allegiance that we would be one nation under you as we observe this memorial day weekend knowledge your presence with us and pas to give you glory and pray that you would strengthen us to write new and good chapters in our national story we pray these things for the sake of your love amen thank you combine at this time i'd like to invite the chairman of the belmont board of selectmen adam dash the morning this fall will be marking the one hundredth anniversary of the armistice which marked the end of world war one the so called or to end all wars think about that phrase for a moment the war to end all wars and all the horror and optimism that it conveys obviously it was nowhere near the end of all wars in fact it was the precursor to an even greater conflict a generation later as well as the numerous other conflicts around the globe over the past hundred years our brave doughboys of a century ago endured the mud the poison gas the mechanized destruction of new inventions of death the airplane the submarine the tank they wanted to believe that no future men and women would ever have to live through that again to that end once the great war was over and out of their unbridled optimism and unrivaled revulsion to the horror of war on a world wide scale they created the league of nations which led the united nations organization of today nothing is ever been done like that before creating a global organization to keep peace what peoples of fought since the beginning of time humanity has also shown its potential to rise above those impulses we've turned airplanes into civilian modes of transportation if you submarines to scientifically explore the ocean depths w we've wage wars we've also use diplomacy to prevent wars we've shown the ability to follow that biblical command of isaiah to turn swords into plowshares spears into pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war anymore we humans continue to struggle between our impulses toward war and toward peace we want peace yet we wage war today let us remember the dream of those  doughboys that soldier's optimism of a peaceful tomorrow through the cooperation of nations and the banishment of war is up to us who are living right now to create the i took that utopia dreamt of a century ago by soldiers trapped in trenches year upon year sustain peace would be the ultimate gift to those soldiers of your who made the ultimate sacrifice or up to the task if we simply want it to happen therefore it's fitting that we take a day to honor the sacrifice which knows no ideology which knows no party which knows no equal we remember they rest in peace so that we can live in peace thank you at this time i would like to invite state representative dave rogers to come up and say a few words please thank you thank you it's good to be with you all today on this memorial day and i have a proclamation here from the governor which i'd like to read for you whereas while the nation was still recovering from the horrors of the civil war people in cities and towns across the country gathered to honor those union and confederate soldiers who had given their lives celebrating the first decoration day and whereas after or one the nation came together again to honor those who had fallen in the service of their country renamed memorial day the last monday in bay is when people remember and honor the memory of all the men and women who fought and died in all of american wars and conflicts and whereas throughout our country's history thousands of massachusetts citizens have fought in wars and conflicts to defend our safety and our way of life and where as their legacy of patriotism and dedication to country is an inspiration to all americans and whereas it's appropriate that all massachusetts citizens remember the bravery of those who gave their lives so that their sacrifices serve as a reminder of the cost of our freedom now therefore i be charles charles de baker governor of the commonwealth of massachusetts do hereby can proclaim may twenty eighth twenty eighteen to be memorial day and urge all citizens of the commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance thank you thank you representative rogers at this time i am going to be introducing our featured speaker for today but before i do i would like to talk a little bit about her background and the relationship that she has with the town of belmont in addition to twelve years of belmont library trustee elaine allie good is the chief of boston be a library services in two thousand and eleven she led the redesign of the new england v a library's to a virtual twenty four seven electronic library available at the fingertips of v a doctor is nurses residence in researches all over new england especially rewarding for her group is helping veterans with their library and information needs the boston librarian support fenton patients with information about their health private books magazines as well as answers to veteran student reference questions the next project for the boston v a locker service in addition to the usual clinical and knowledge support information work is developing an outreach program with public libraries meeting fenton's where they live with help information be information and possibly book groups elections and other community outreach events born and raised in washington d c elaine comes from a family of veterans but she didn't actually set out to be a librarian it was a student job at the national library of medicine while she was working towards her history degree then she shifted her work to inject th is such an honor i am really almost speechless but not quite as my friends will tell you but i would you know since i'm a librarian i want to start with a couple little facts and that you might know or you might not know there are more than twenty one million veterans today in the u s and that includes two million women veterans and that means that six point five percent of our population so there are veterans as you can see here everywhere and we're related to them and if the v a we're committed to serving all of so i can many of us i come from a family of veterans my brother and my brother in law served in vietnam and my first husband did as well i went to high school with a lot of fellows who went off to the war as well and in world war two my bad uncles bob an awful josiah action in the pacific my chesapeake bay oystermen cousins walter and carol ware and quite ok now are sorry at the battle of the bulge and then my uncle tom that is thomas jefferson macrae of kinsale virginia he served in world war one he was a very young when he went and thankfully he came home returned to work on the family farm and lived to be one hundred years old and he was a quiet gentle kind man to almost never spoke of the war all i remember was put me on the tractor going for a ride and he he fought and served his country without comment literally as you all know as adam was just saying the world are one centennial  is right around the corner this fall and i think we're all going to learn a lot more stories that may have not made the headlines lately about the deaths of the men in the women who served in world war one i've worked at the v a for over twenty five years in baltimore and in boston and the veterans there the veterans i've worked with as well as taking care of one way or another with books journals information or just conversation they've all taught me many things and so i wanted to talk about what i've learned from a couple of veterans day they each have a journey and it's a unique journey and sometimes  very bumpy and compelling journey and so it's instructive and complicated so i thought i'd share this to veterans mr b who i met on a lot toward he was cry quite frail and pale and he was convinced he was going to die from a g i condition that he didn't actually have but he certainly believes he had it and it sort of stopped eating as a result very worried doctor called me and asked if i could maybe help him with finding some literature on his favorite topic which turned out that he had a degree a ph d in russian literature so as a compassionate fan of dr survive go in high school i think i saw the movie about one hundred times i was thrilled to be able to do a little exploration of russian literature and so i pulled together some things and i met up with him hoping that i could spark his interest in something other than his impending imaginary death so we started to talk i tried to drive out with a few open ended questions but he was still a bit reluctant and at one point he said you know i'm really not going to have time to read this because you know i'm dying and i said well why not take a look at them and you know i joke to them i said at least i'll have something to read while you're waiting and he laughed which i thought was a really good sign and so i left him some stuff i came back and met with him every week for a few weeks and and he gradually got engaged in the conversation about nabokov all these of the russian writers and so  that's one of these visits he just shifted the conversation and told me his story he was in the navy in the eighty's stationed at the n s a in fort meade maryland and he was sent to an ada if anybody here remembers one thousand nine hundred three our invasion of grenada he was deployed there on the intelligence ship off the off the coast and suddenly one thousand american and perished in that invasion and he believed sincerely believed in his heart and soul that it was his fault he believed that his county faulty intelligence cause those he believed he'd failed each soldier utterly he simply could not forgive himself and that was the sort of moral injury that he suffered in this war and what he taught me was in his telling me about what happened and how he felt about it was that there is this almost on a durable burden for a soldier to his brothers in arms a commitment to his brothers in arms and there and the loss of those brothers in arms that was such a powerful affliction he was having a very hard time coming back to the world and that taught me a lot about forgiveness and loss now there's mr l who is a more recent combat veteran he was in recovery and on probation mr l had endured a lot he had seen far too much and lost far too much during combat and once home he couldn't stop remembering and reliving  the experiences he suffered fueled his rage and his addiction and derailed his life plans they destroyed his relationships and landed him sadly in a world of consequences mr owen i met him was humbled yet very focused like a laser on his recovery he wanted to get his life back together and he was doing those v a program called workfare a piece so he came to me to to help me do a project in the dusty old library that i was where we store things and he was really hard he was working really hard diligently to make amends to his fractured family and this came up in his conversations with me he showed up full of energy every day at my dusty basement library where he almost singlehandedly and susie asked to play reorganized and reshelve our pre digital journal collection without a single complain in fact he was keeping track of every box he emptied every shelf he filled and one day he even took suggest improvements along the way to things that i should have thought of myself one day though mr l asked me if i would write a letter to his probation officer and documenting the work he had been doing for me and i realize that the depth of his conviction to maintaining his sobriety and the road back towards his new his reality and his home he knew it was a long and tedious yet central to his journey that he repaired and make amends and he taught me that forgiveness and endurance just like mr b were keys to his recovery from the injuries of war and it was this commitment of his that was so impressive no matter how bumpy or long the road back home might be he was really committed to that journey as as are all of the veterans who returned home damaged in some way by their experiences in war not everyone comes home whole and hearty and ready to tell their stories and for those who don't we try so hard to help them along the way and that's our mission at the v help and to do what it takes to get our our veterans to to work to wholeness and to health and i just don't think i could work anyplace else to be honest so here's to all our veterans all of you who served to your journeys to your sacrifices all across america thank you thank you girls that was wonderful thank you thank you kim the town of about one on is those who served and those who have paid the act the ultimate sacrifice you know there are approximately still six hundred spectrums who reside in belmont here today there are approximately two we remember those of belmont who have served those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and their families and that we will continue to remember them let's not forget i will now read the names serving in the civil war smith leon a true world war two robert s anderson john jay andrea will david be the korean walk chiles easy beyond jerry even burns robert and the geo shepherd jay richard b quickly ralph age thomas wilfred wheeler the third vietnam walker john c robert a linda's walter d grade the war on terror jonathan and curtis at this time before we close a ceremony today down one cemetary i would like at this time here to recognize a few people here one being the athletic director jim davis for the town of belmont and the student athletes who took the time to come here and remove and replace the flags and some what about two thousand plus flags that they take off every year and they replace them every year on the graves while the veterans here at the cemetery before i go and i turn the mike over to bob one more time at this time if we could take a moment of silence in remembering all of those who went before us that paid the ultimate price for the freedoms that we have in this country here today to remember all the thank you very much in closing up program today i also would like to thank all those who helped us to put this program together certainly all those that have organized the boys skulls and the girl scouts i want to thank the cemetery department they always give us great support that done a great job of keeping this cemetery beautiful all throughout the year to support me in these of other veterans and their families who want to make sure that these grounds are taken care of as they are i also want to thank angelot friends and the belmont veterans committee for all the work that they've been doing to work on the belmont fences but morial next year we look forward to that dedication being made at the belmont fences memorial we want to show for all the hard work that that committee has done and also want to thank everyone in this community in town government that strongly supports veterans and the work that i do all week long during the week in helping out family members with  claims state benefits for veterans services it's just really an honor for me to serve in this town and i just want to let you know that i do appreciate it i do work at the town hall in the health department invented services and i encourage you if you're a veteran a veteran family member or if you know a veteran and need some assistance please reach out to me i'm very interested in helping them and i would like to meet you if you're in a particular again let's always remember never forget thank you