was it was of talk of some rain this morning but i guess they decided to hold off to later on the day i think that's great for all it was so nice to see such a strong audience i wasn't sure what was going to happen here on monday want to get ten o'clock here at the library but as always i see here don't want very strong support from veterans victims family members and certainly today for a purple heart recipient and their families i really enjoy seeing everyone here and being with you i pledge allegiance to the flag united states of america to th healing through these many years we left them up to you in gratitude and thankfulness for their service we ask you to be with us as we gather this morning on this special day of commemoration and remembrance and we pray that you would be at work in our lives helping us to write new chapters for our nation and helping us to bind up our wounds and to strengthen us in service as one nation under you we pause to give you praise and thanks and glory this day at the beginning of this ceremony and we pray these things for the sake of your love  is that i have not met yet i would like to introduce myself my name is balled up thing i am tom belmont's veteran service officer i know i've met many of you i am going into my third year here in town and i do  appreciate this great aunt to serve the town of belmont and the veterans in the best and families in this town it's been a great experience for me but i encourage you to please seek me out i am at nineteen more street if you are a veteran if you are the family member of a veteran if you need veterans services or guidance a referral to the v a system or you have an interest in the bombing of services for the state of massachusetts i can help to facilitate you and guide you through that process i can also help you directly in many instances and i encourage you to reach out to me i'm more than happy to try to help wherever i can today i also want to recognize those in our audience and of course first and foremost  had to raise your hands for your family members of those it's great to see so many of you he i know you was the reason why we are here the town of belmont recognized itself as a purple heart community only a couple of years ago and we take great pride in doing that and on airing our purple heart recipient in addition to our purple heart recipient we have many veterans in our audience and we want to appreciate them as well thank you very much thank you of course thank you we have members of the v f w and the american legion with us they're always with us here it's a very strong group of v f w members and american legion members we also have many members the work down at the senior center and office services to our veterans and i've come to know many of them very closely very well we have a coffee that's becoming very popular here in town and i covers them all to reach out to me if you think i could be of help to you additionally we have some public officials in our attendance today we have the chair of the belmont board of selectmen us here today if i missed anybody i apologize i don't know if the police will fight a poverty here yet but they usually do come and i wouldn't be surprised if they showed up at some point time here but we do appreciate th the belmont veterans memorial with us here today here i'm i have my work life has been committed to veterans and honor those who serve as well as my family of veterans and and the public library at someone as if i can't get enough of libraries but it's just  a collings if you ask any librarian peter will tell you and particularly today i have i'm on a twitter feed of course like every other librarian and today doctor a leg who's the chief undersecretary for health care the highest health care person in the air i tweeted about the purple heart to all of us about the badge for military merit given for any singularly meritorious action in the service of our country it honors selfless bravery in action in the risking of life and limb and really that is the core of what we do with the v a as lincoln said serving those who served  us and even in our library one of the things that we're planning to do is a outreach project to provide haitian health information through the public libraries and we're just ramping up to get ready for our pilot project and it's a great way to reach out in every community to veterans to have book groups for veterans or information literacy health literacy days and that kind of thing so the belmont public library is really the center of information for everyone but particularly for veterans and their families we welcome all of them to come on we have our beautiful memorial we have this service every year and so we're equally committed one of the parade ceremony that veterans are warriors and not victims the people i served with i'm proud to serve with them i'm proud of what we were able to do and i'm sure that's the case in what you all think of all of our veterans and our purple heart recipient here today so thank you very much and  forward to the remarks by the colonel thank you combat deployments from the initial invasion of iraq in two thousand and three to the surge of forces in afghanistan in two thousand and nine mike recently retired as a colonel follow me twenty three years of active duty across the globe and has returned to belmont thank you you thank what a great cross section of folks here today and a beautiful day in the summer in belmont on a monday morning none the less it's wonderful to see a standing room only crowd out here on belmont's main thoroughfare if you well i see representatives from our elected town officials thank you veterans service organizations thank you first responders thank you and fellow residents here in the town of belmont but most of all for those night for those purple heart recipients thank you for your sacrifice what a privilege it is to be here addressing you on national purple heart day this is a day where we pas to remember the sacrifice made by those brave members of our armed forces who are either wounded died of wounds or outright killed in the battlefield in action against the enemy they were defending the security and freedoms that define our american way of life and for that turned away grateful my comments this morning will center on two areas one little bit of history my mom is here and as a history teacher she wouldn't be happy if i didn't help explain some of the background on the purple art and i'll do so this morning but more importantly what you can do going forward and continue to do and urge others to do to help bring additional recognition to this to this important day purple heart day falls on our august seventh for a reason it was this day in seventeen hundred eighty two that george washington came up with the badge for military merit and it was on this day where he made a proclamation to his revolutionary that for their actions they would be recommended for nominated for that or you know based on surviving records only three soldiers in the room pollution a war maybe for if you look at some research there's even proof that they were awarded that decoration so it really fell by the wayside not a lot is left is actually a book of military merit that was written up in the revolutionary war the no one can seem to find so we have all our librarian personnel here and i'd like to surge those resources to try to find that because i know that you know that there's a lot more than just a handful from the revolutionary war after that we went almost a century before this was brought up again and it was brought up again in one nine hundred thirty two well after all the casualties we  in the first world war where the purple heart renamed such was brought up into existence it was to nominate folks for their sacrifice and service by in the great war at that time and his first recipient at that time in one nine hundred thirty two was macarthur so general macarthur and others moving forward begin to earn that distinction the philadelphia mint were the ones who produced the heart as we know it today and in one nine hundred forty two certainly are there after entry to the second world war president roosevelt decreed that it was no longer but meritorious distinction you had to have suffered wounds or been killed in action to earn that since that day one point nine million americans have earned the distinction of the purple are no individual can receive the purple heart twice subsequent decorations will be annotated by what is a cluster or a star that's on that metal so you can see that distinction it's called an oak leaf cluster a small little device that goes right on the ribbon that you see here and we're still continuing to draw down our stocks believe it or not they were ordered produced in one nine hundred forty five that we anticipated would have to be issued had we invaded the japanese home islands so half a million purple hearts were made at that time that we're told are still being drawn on to this day so thank god that action never had to take place but we're still issuing purple hearts from that series many civilians were also awarded the purple heart firefighters during the second world war red cross personnel folks at pearl harbor on december seventh puppet there  bade the issuance of the purple heart to civilians going forward so it's now distinction unique to military service members and it's also against the law to buy or sell purple hearts if you ever come across one the military one of the purple heart and other veterans organizations you should contact if you end up seeing one that's so precious this award is that how it should hold it in such high distinction that finally the town of new windsor new york has an entire museum dedicated to the purple heart and that is close to where george washington ten was and camp in seventeen eighty two when he made the badge for military merit so that's a little bit of the  history little bit of the context although i'm not a recipient of the purple heart i can tell you based on marks perience is in iraq and afghanistan a little bit about the ones who did earn it and first and foremost  award that number none of them saw it not a single one of them not for those who weren't killed on the battlefield what's called the golden hour became so key in the golden hour refers to the period after someone is wounded where you have if you can get them to medical care think of like a mash type unit that are for deployed their chances of survival skyrocketed immensely and even in iraq and afghanistan we have eight  quadruple amputee ease and that's you know the description that doesn't need any additional explanation but it just goes to show how medical care and what we're able to bring  resources in the field can actually do to make a difference so what's their stabilized on the battlefield that we sent in all likelihood not in a percent chance landstuhl germany whether they're coming out of iraq or afghanistan and there is an take in all of the casualties now that want to read since it closed down no longer can it if you receive serious burns then you go to brooke army medical center texas fantastic facilities and if you are killed in the battlefield in the purple heart will be presented to your next of kin and that usually takes place at an internment at a military cemetery but not always the case so that sacrifice will always be recognized by the issu of the purple heart to either that service member or their family so my fellow americans the purple heart is above all else a symbol of sacrifice it's a reminder that the that freedom is a gift purchased at the highest of prices going forward i asked all of you here listening to me today to pass on the history of this important military decoration to a friend or family member fly an american flag that you home or business to show your soul it aired with our troops defending our freedom honor our veterans by learning more about their military service it's your presence here today and the work that you continue to do is a step well along that way to try to pull one other person into that honor our veterans by learning about their military service which i just described and i think in our wounded warriors fallen heroes and their families by donating your time or money to recognize their sacrifice and you hear a little bit more about how you can do that here in belmont coming up in a moment so in conclusion let us all remain forever grateful for those who gave their blood to defend our nation on our behalf god bless america and thank you again for joining us here on this beautiful monday morning  thank you very very much you are not going to want to say thank you so much for your service to our country you know the time when i was a pointed to this position but as i've said many times i do appreciate nona the opportunity to serve this town and the veterans that are within this town colonel callahan thank you for stepping up introducing yourself to me to at this time i would like to introduce bill mcavoy but before i do i'd like to talk a little bit about his background bill mcavoy is a member of the don't want veterans committee and memorial committee he's also  skive to suffolk university in boston callie he served as a district court magistrate for thirty one years the last eight of which was as a commonwealth only volunteer magistrate he's also a volunteer at the bedford b a and has been for the last eight years his completing his seventh year in the no veteran dies alone program in two thousand and fourteen he was he's a volunteer of the year at the bedford b a he's also a member of boston federal executive my memories of it are not so much as a place of intellectual development but a destination where young students were allowed to go out to supper it's a lot of place that i visit in the evening before my induction in the army on march twenty eight entering i look to my right and pause to read the names in the wretched memorial some of the names are familiar from high school days teddy lee donnie ray and kevin donovan jerry brown is missing in action the korean war is a distant cousin of mine is my hope that this life will continue including any future locations to conspicuous in honor their sons and daughters whose names appear inside these walls sadly history has family member i looked in the face during that period of time we attended funerals at various civilian cemeteries in the eastern great plains this was a national cemetery on post shortly before christmas of one nine who came with the person driving a hearse in my brain i have see a big black country squire station wagon coming down the path and the only one there was the driver that event remained in my mind for thirty eight years and l me to a post retirement activity perhaps more hoop of location than activity since my retirement two thousand and nine i've been a volunteer at the veterans hospital that i'm part of the no veteran dies alone program i've had the knowledge of knowing several hundred of veterans sharing portions of their final months and days without somebody been with them at the end of their journey many veterans that i have met were recipients of the purple heart surgeons come from all walks of life we all arrived at a reception station on our first day of service not that uncommon no common experience that we could all share other than birth on that first day we raised our right at the end of our military service we share the commonality of being a veteran of military service we all like members of the same fraternity or sorority might be a member of that group makes it easier to create i mean you'd be to have gone with some of the veterans the next generations look at the possibility of serious illness all exposure talk all kinds of exposure to toxic chemicals the present issues are the effects of hate crime or multiple deployments sexual assault and for some suicide such moves often result in a reduced quality of life and sometimes an early mortality on the fanatics post traumatic stress disorder although it's always been with us it was not one seriously considered some of us more than all of those we know the negative effects of p t s d on the veteran family and friends it is recognized and i have witnessed it at the end of life that p when that occurs many families have been heard to say that their veteran never spoke about the experiences in the war have concluded that most special prefer to be viewed in their role as husband wife father mother son daughter on uncle or friend they present that person or to their loved ones of warning stories of what they had what they saw and had to do to survive to come home they also attempt not to inflict secondary t on their friends the loved ones have also become aware that not all casualties are recorded on public memorial so many wounds of physical or psychological eventually result in  us know the experiences of military service can result in a veteran and their loved ones being unable to lead a completely fulfilled life that result represents a great i recognized by school all those who are impacted by the a circle around that new eliminated flagpole the inner circle will contain bricks on a veterans who currently or previously reside in beaumont will be an artist circle of bricks noting those who work to support it various war efforts as well as aided returning veterans a purchased a brick in the art of circle for my dad my dad did not serve in world war two because as a child he had rheumatic fever he developed however he served in the navy on the boston naval district as a machinist throughout the war and laid it later became a victim of asbestos exposure their forms which could be used to purpose purchase a brick a single brick is one hundred on the great war on behalf of the committee i thank the belmont savings bank for their generosity by committing to match the donations that we received by the end of this calendar year up to one hundred thousand dollars  jones has also purchased the bench my thanks to respect to all those who are receptive to the purple heart and all here who have served this great country and who want to