Fallen Veterans Remembered As Our Neighbors, Friends

CHATHAM – It’s not enough to pause on Memorial Day to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Ted Miller said it’s best to say their names, to remember that they were our neighbors and friends.

“There are names on some of the town memorials, but not all of them,” he said. “I think it’s important that the names be read, as by this simple act of recognition, we can see that these are not just names on a stone, but the names of local people — not professionals, just citizen-soldiers.”

Miller was the keynote speaker at the town’s Memorial Day observance Monday, held at the World War I memorial in front of the community center. Dozens of people stopped to pay their respects.

The family names Miller read are familiar ones in Chatham. There was Edward Bearse, Emery Griffin, Edwin Nickerson, Thomas Rogers, Chester Eldridge, Herbert Macomber and Josiah Nickerson, all of whom died in the Great War. Then there were the three Chatham men killed in World War II: Robert Scott Brown, who died during the Pearl Harbor attack; Roland James, who died in eastern France in 1944; and Robert Buck, who died in the Marshall Islands. While the town’s Korean and Vietnam War memorials have no names, Miller acknowledged the two Chatham men whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington: Arthur Allison and Thomas Nickerson.

“Just because this particular war has a personal meaning for me, I’ll read one more name that’s inscribed on the wall in D.C. He was not from Chatham, but he was a friend of mine,” said Miller, who served in Vietnam. “Kevin John Joyce,” he said, choking back emotion.

It’s key to remember that Memorial Day isn’t just the source of a three-day weekend, Miller noted. “Hey, I like the cookouts — bratwurst on the grill and beer — as much as the next person,” he said. “But I always save room for those comrades who are no longer with us.”

Organized by Rob Franz of the town’s public ceremonies committee, Monday’s observance included recitals by Boy Scouts, pipe music by Sarah Marchio, vocal tributes by Laura Barabe and salutes from the crew of Coast Guard Station Chatham, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the Chatham police and fire departments.