Chathamites Show Gratitude For Veterans

CHATHAM – Making good on an annual promise, Chathamites came together Monday to give thanks for fellow citizens who served their nation in the armed forces.

Seventy-four years ago, two weeks before the start of the Korean War, Jo Ann Sprague joined the Women’s Army Corps. “It was the most important decision of my life,” said Sprague, who went on to serve in the Massachusetts legislature and currently serves as a member of the finance committee in Chatham. “I was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. as a staff car driver for Pentagon officials,” she recalled.

She worked hard and graduated from officers' candidate school as a second lieutenant. “It was at Fort Meade that I met a young military police officer, Warren Sprague, a veteran of World War II, who would be my husband for the next 64 years,” she recalled. But during her years of service, her love of country and her respect for our system of government deepened. “I learned to believe that there is no higher calling, there is no greater contribution of a citizen of a free society to make, than to answer the call to military duty, in service to that free society.”

Organized by Chief Warrant Officer Robert Franz, U.S. Army, Ret., Monday’s commemoration included a rendition of the National Anthem by Laura Barabe, bagpipe selections from Sarah Marchio, and an honor guard of Scouts, town officials, police, fire and Coast Guard personnel.