Memorial Day commemorations in western Massachusetts began today in Springfield where caution was observed as the transition begins to full reopening from the pandemic.
The ceremony had a short speaking program followed by a procession of dignitaries and the laying of wreaths at the veterans’ monuments located in Court Square.
The number of participants this year was limited to a few elected officials and representatives from veterans’ organizations. There was a combined honor guard from the Springfield Police and Fire departments.
Mayor Domenic Sarno said the city was proud and honored to hold the ceremony.
"We are reopening. We want to do it smart," Sarno said. "We have to make sure that we always remember and never forget our veterans and their families who made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us."
The program was keynoted by Springfield City Councilor Gumersindo Gomez, the Massachusetts director of Vietnam Veterans of America.
"I remember one April in 1967 when a few of my buddies never came back," Gomez said as he choked back tears. "But they are here in my heart and in my mind because I will never forget them. That's why we're here."
Memorial Day is always poignant, but even more so after what has happened during the last 15 months, said Springfield Veterans’ Services Department Director Tom Belton.
"The United States lost about 500,000 people to the COVID epidemic and of that 500,000 people, I know there were veterans in there," Belton said.
A year ago, Massachusetts was just beginning to emerge from a two-month pandemic lockdown, and even small gatherings of people were heavily discouraged. On Saturday, the state will officially lift all COVID-19-era restrictions and adopt CDC guidelines for when to wear face masks.
So, people are once again being invited to cemeteries, memorial parks, and to stand along parade routes to pay tribute to those who died in military services.
But not every city and town will have its traditional Memorial Day observances.
For the second straight year there will be no wreath-laying ceremony at the state’s veterans cemetery in Agawam. A virtual event with speakers and musical performances will be on the state’s official website mass.gov.
Parades have been canceled once again in Chicopee and Ludlow, but there will be ceremonies held.
In Ludlow there will be public reading aloud of the names of each resident of the town who was killed in action.
A ceremony to remember the war dead with ties to Chicopee will be held Monday at 11 a.m. on Veterans’ Plaza on Front Street. The service will include the addition of Master Sgt. Luis DeLeon-Figureoa’s name to the War on Terror monument. His will be the seventh name on the monument that was dedicated three years ago. DeLeon-Figureoa was killed in Afghanistan in 2019.
There will be a scaled down Memorial Day parade Monday in Northampton. It will be a parade of vehicles beginning at 8 a.m. followed by a brief ceremony at the Park Street cemetery.