On Tuesday night, residents, service members, and veterans came to the Rochester Council on Aging for The Friends of the Rochester Senior Center’s annual Veterans Dinner and Recognition Ceremony. The event was hosted by the Tri-Town Veterans Office.
The event, which was also livestreamed onto Facebook, saw many come to pay their respects and honor the community’s veterans. It was also a dinner and a venue to tell stories and reminisce on the past.
Following the dinner and with dessert served, Rochester Boy Scout Troop 31 brought forth the flag and members of The Showstoppers sang the Pledge of Allegiance. Following their performance, the two singers spoke and said: “The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag is a pledge to the ideals of our forefathers and the men who fought and died in building this great nation. It’s a pledge to fulfil our duties and obligations as citizens of the United States and to uphold the principals of our Constitution. Last but not least, it’s a pledge to maintain the four great freedoms cherished by all Americans: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.”
Old Rochester student Esther Ebert then read the Governor’s Veterans Day Proclamation. There was then a period of raffle drawings, with the oldest veteran in the room, an unnamed 88-year-old, drawing the first ticket. Ironically, the evening’s guest speaker was the winner of the first pull.
Rochester Select Board Chair Adam Murphy then delivered his remarks. He thanks everyone for putting the event together and for those attending. Of veterans, he said “Our local heroes. Here in Rochester, we are blessed with many veterans in our community. They are our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, and our family members. They continue to lead, to volunteer, and to strengthen the very fabric of our town.”
State Representative Mark Silva then spoke, thanking veterans and also highlighting the strength of family members.
Finally, the event’s guest speaker was Connie Eshbach, Chair of the Rochester Historical Commission and Vice President and Program Director of the Rochester Historical Society. Eshbach remarked that she had also spoken in Mattapoisett earlier in the day. She then moved on to the importance of the next year, being the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Her work recently has revolved around uncovering information about Rochester’s Revolutionary War veterans. She said there is a list, but much is still unknown. She also highlighted the importance of Rochester’s involvement, stating more men had enlisted from the town proportionately to other similar sized towns in Massachusetts.
“The idea is to make these names people” she said, in showing the purpose of their mission. Eshbach spoke of the importance of remembering, and that the study of history and connection to the past is crucial in our understanding of the present.
Following her speech, a list of current Rochester veterans was then read. After the lengthy list, the room held a toast to Marine Beckett Kernan who passed February 5, 2018, from an aggressive bacterial infection.
With that, a night of high-praise and remembrance was over.
Rochester Veterans Day
By Sam Bishop