Suzanne Reilly, left, the guest speaker at the Annual Veterans Memorial Ceremony at Lynn City Hall, talks with Lori Landry, who led the salute to the flag at the start of the ceremony. (Item photo by Owen O’Rourke)
By Leah Dearborn
LYNN — The service of some the city’s most honorable citizens was recognized Friday at the Annual Women Veterans Memorial Ceremony.
Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy talked about the status of women veterans in the city and across the state at the City Hall event sponsored by the Lynn Veterans Council.
“You all have truly been pioneers,” said Kennedy, who addressed a crowd that included multiple generations of women veterans. “I don’t think I would be standing here in front of you if not for the moves that you made.”
There are approximately 26,818 women veterans living in Massachusetts, according to information on the state’s Department of Veterans’ Services website.
Suzanne Reilly was the keynote speaker at the ceremony and recounted her experience with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam Era.
“There are three things I learned from basic training,” said Reilly. “Discipline, organization and respect.”
Also in attendance was Leda Barr, who served as a nurse at a Naval air base in Jacksonville, Fla. during World War II.
Barr said she never liked public speaking and gave the reporter a written note with her thoughts on military service.
“Wars came again and again, and I feel the military and especially veterans of these different times are outstanding examples of the best citizens in our country and deserve our gratitude and respect,” said Barr’s note. “Lynn citizens are amazing — they never have forgotten veterans and continue to help vets in every way possible.”
Lorrie Landry, who lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, served in Tokyo during the Korean War. She was a singer in an Army band that performed across Japan.
An all-female color guard from the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps at Lynn English High School was also present.
Kennedy said Lynn is one of the only cities in the Commonwealth to honor women veterans with a permanent memorial.
Mike Sweeney, director of Lynn’s Veteran’s Services, reiterated the importance of recognizing women veterans from earlier generations and said that Air Force veteran Arthur Salkins, who died in 2014, was instrumental in the erection of the monument.
Women veterans are honored by the city every year in the fall, said the mayor, but not always on the same date.