Bellingham/Mendon Veteran's Oral History Project - Linda Calderiso
Channel: L Scornavacca
Date: 2013-10-08

Interview for the Bellingham/Mendon Veteran's Oral History Project
Interviewer, Marjorie Turner Hollman
With support from ABMI Cable 8 in Bellingham, MA

Bellingham, MA resident Linda Calderiso joined the Army as a single mother with two small children. She says that she wanted to do something to make her sons proud of her. She talks about the challenges of boot camp and being so far away from her children, her determination to stay fit once she'd gotten into shape, and her experiences serving as an Emergency Prepared Liaison Officer during the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. She talks about how her job changed after 9-11 with an increased awareness of the capabilities of emergency prepared liaisons. She also participated in work that addressed sexual harassment in the military after the Tailhook scandal and received an award for her work. She assisted with emergency response during Hurricanes Ivan and jean. Now retired from the Army, Linda serves with FEMA, using her experience with emergency preparedness. Each year she, her husband and a growing number of others band together each September 11 to climb the forty 4000 ft. peaks in New Hampshire, where they collectively post a flag on each peak and spend several hours at those peaks recalling the attacks and remembering those who were lost.