Veteran Services Director James MacRae and Chair of the Acton Public Ceremonies and Celebrations Committee Gail Sawyer led the 2024 Veterans Day Ceremony on the Town Common. The program, taped by Acton TV, included speeches, the laying of wreaths, a three volley salute by the Acton Minutemen, and a history of the flags under which Acton soldiers have served.
State Senator Jamie Eldridge had just come from a multi-generational veterans event at Acton Boxborough Regional High School and thanked the National Honor Society, Acton-Boxborough students, and the Rotary Club of Acton and Boxborough for putting on a “wonderful breakfast where you really got to see young people have the chance to talk to veterans about their military service”. He said he was honored to stand here and pay tribute “to our veterans who have so selflessly volunteered to serve and protect our great nation. Their demonstrations of bravery and integrity are true pillars of the American ideal and we must remember the parts these people played in trying to keep America the home of the free and the land of the brave.” He said they deserve our utmost respect and quality of care. “Veterans from our cities and towns will never be forgotten as long as we continue to share their stories.”
The guest speaker was Rob Beaudoin, a retired Marine Corps colonel with 30 years of service. In a conversation after the ceremony, Beaudoin said that it was at the key ceremony for the home for a veteran with disabilities built by A Home in Acton that MacRae heard him speak and invited him to this ceremony. In his speech, Beaudoin said that MacRae told him there would be an antique jeep at the event. When Beaudoin arrived, he saw that “the jeep was the same kind I used to drive in. Which means, today, your speaker is antique!”
Beaudoin’s family has lived in Acton for the last 60 years. The house they lived in longest was at 525 Mass. Ave. and was moved and renovated to build Acton Villageworks and True West Brewing Co. In a conversation in the library parking lot after the event, Beaudoin said he chose the Marine Corps because he felt it would be the hardest job. His childhood of hard outside work inspired him to choose the path with the biggest challenge.
“Today we pay tribute to those who have stepped forward, putting themselves in harm’s way, to protect our freedom,” Beaudoin said in his speech. “For me it all started when I was ten years old, standing at the town common in West Acton as I watched a World War II veteran in uniform give a presentation much like I am here this morning. And with the pomp and the circumstance of the day and his words, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be an American soldier. Since the revolutionary war when Captain Isaac Davis led our Minutemen to the Old North Bridge in Concord, until today’s recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have successfully defended our freedom and the freedom of others with our own children risking their own lives for that safety. After the Vietnam conflict, our nation lost its way, sadly looking down upon our veterans as they returned from battle. This disrespect went on for many years. Then 9/11 came, and our return to patriotism and respect for our veterans and our warriors re-occurred. As an old warrior, I could not be more proud to have seen that change.” In conversation after the event, Beaudoin described the change in attitude as a “180 degree turnaround.” Even in the early 1980s, military officials were advised not to wear their uniforms outside of the Pentagon, due to widespread disrespect. Nowadays, he said, “Sometimes I am afraid to say I am a veteran because people feel obligated to thank me.”
Beaudoin said it is not only appropriate, but our moral obligation, to demonstrate our heartfelt gratitude to our service members and our veterans, and in appreciation for those who have sacrificed their personal freedom and their safety to protect our nation and other nations. “If the definition of the hero is someone who is willing to risk their life to protect another, then our veterans are truly our nation’s heroes,” he said.
Beaudoin also asked those present to acknowledge the families of our service members and our veterans “as they shoulder the weight of the family while we [are] deployed or off to battle. Their sacrifice is no less admirable. So, gathering here today with the ceremonial pageantry of the day, we reaffirm our commitment to remain ever vigilant. We show those who have stepped forward before us, we have not forgotten their sacrifice, and we stand ready to answer the call to arms if we must to defend the future and the safety of our own children as they have done so for us.”
Two women from the Acton Minutemen company presented the history of the flag and of their group itself. “The Acton Minutemen were re-formed in 1963 as a ceremonial organization for the purpose of perpetuating the historic role the gunsmith Isaac Davis and his Minutemen company played in the fight at the Old North Bridge on the morning of April 19, 1775,” they explained. They told the story of Captain Davis who led his company into battle in Concord, saying, “I haven’t a man who is afraid to go.” “Captain Davis gave his life that morning, one of the first heroes in the fight for independence and the first commissioned officer to die for his country in the Revolutionary War,” the presenters said. Isaac Davis, Abner Hosmer, and James Hayward, who all died that day, are buried right there on the common. The Acton Minutemen today recount their stories and re-enact their deeds. The Minutemen are always looking for new members. Members participate in battle re-enactments, the Patriots Day march to Concord, and parades and ceremonies.
The two representatives of the Minutemen finished on a serious note. “As we look back over 200 years of history, we are reminded that our forebears under many different banners have given the last full measure, the last full measure to preserve the right of free choice in governing themselves in the four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. They remind us also that freedom is not without its price and its obligations.”
Franny Osman is Editor-in-Chief of the Acton Exchange and occasional writer.