After a subdued Veterans Day in 2020, cities and towns on the North Shore are hoping for Thursday to be a show of community strength toward those who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States.
Vets will be honored with everything from marching bands and color guards to guest speeches and an opera performance (by Brian Landry of Lynn), with the majority of events occurring in the late morning in outdoor, municipal spaces.
Members of local government and veterans’ organizations have expressed their desires to see all residents engage in safe, respectful, and engaging Veterans Day events.
Lynn will honor its veterans with a breakfast at the Frederick Douglass Bandstand on the Lynn Common at 9 a.m. Thursday, and a subsequent ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. By tradition, the breakfast will be served by the city’s elected officials and the food will be provided by Brothers Deli.
The program will include music, patriotic songs, performances from opera singer Brian Landry and the Lynn Public Schools All-City Marching Band, and a drill presentation from the Lynn English Marine Corps Junior ROTC.
“We are hoping it will be a great program, good music and an opportunity to come together for the first time (after the COVID pandemic),” said Michael Sweeney, director of the Veterans Services Department.
At the end of the program, there will be a special acknowledgement of the veterans. All are welcome to join the event.
“I think veterans around the country and around the commonwealth are really happy to get together to honor the service of those who came before us and those who are serving today,” said Sweeney. “It’s been a hard couple of years, so we are happy to get back to the normalcy of having these events and being able to come together as a community.”
Meanwhile, the Town of Lynnfield will hold an in-person Veterans Day celebration for the first time in two years.
The event will take place Thursday on the Lynnfield Common at 11 a.m.
The ceremony, which is expected to last approximately 30 minutes, is the first in-person ceremony since 2019. All Lynnfield veterans and residents are invited and encouraged to attend.
As it did last year, the Lynnfield Moms Group will sponsor a car parade. Starting at 10 a.m., anyone wishing to participate should assemble in their vehicles in the parking lot of the Our Lady of Assumption Church on Salem Street. At approximately 10:15, the caravan will proceed to the Lynnfield Housing Authority on Ross Drive. Upon exiting, the parade will turn right onto Salem Street, then proceed to Summer Street and continue to the Town Common, where the parade will end.
“I encourage all residents to join the parade, or to show your support along the route,” said Lynnfield Veterans Service Officer Bruce Siegel. “Remember to decorate your vehicles.
“Veterans Day is a celebration of the brave men and women who have dedicated their lives to protecting us,” Siegel added. “It is incumbent upon us to spend some time showing our appreciation.”
In the event of inclement weather, the celebration will occur on the same date and time inside the Meeting House.
For additional information, please call Siegel at 781-334-9440.
Over in Marblehead, Abbot Hall will be the home of the town’s Veterans Day service.
U.S. Marine Corps veteran Francisco Urena will be the keynote speaker, and the event will also feature a performance from the Marblehead Choral Group, directed by Andrew Scoglio.
After holding the event outdoors during the first year of the pandemic, Veterans Agent David C. Rodgers is happy to have some sense of normalcy return in 2021.
“It’s great,” he said. “It’s been a tough couple of years, and I think people are looking forward to it.”
Doors will open at Abbot Hall at 9 a.m., with the event scheduled to start at 10. Parking with shuttle service will be available from the National Grand Bank’s rear parking lot starting at 9 a.m., with the final shuttle leaving at 9:45 a.m.
Neighboring Nahant will be celebrating its annual Veterans Day Services in aptly-named Veterans Park, near Lowlands Park on Nahant Street.
The service will honor those who have served, or currently serve, in the U.S. military and begin at 11 am.
The Nahant American Legion Post 215 will be hosting the event and invites the community to join in.
The City of Salem will cover multiple bases this year, celebrating Veterans Day both in person and virtually.
This year, the city’s Veterans Day ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Larkin Lane and Memorial Drive, as Salem dedicates its new monument to U.S. Army Nurse Corps 1st Lt. Catherine Larkin. Dr. Barbara Poremba, public-health nurse, professor, and U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps advocate, will be speaking at the event.
For the last two years, the event has been held outside and Veterans Agent Kim F. Emerling said that with the weather looking good, the event could be held outdoors moving forward.
The ceremony is free and open to all, and will also be broadcast live on the city’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CityofSalemMA and on Salem Access TV for those unable to attend in person.
As for the Town of Saugus, its Veterans Council will be holding the annual Veterans Day service at Veterans Park on the intersection of Central and Winter streets.
At 11 a.m., keynote speaker Andy Biggio will give his address. Biggo is a former veterans services officer for the Town of Saugus and a current police officer for the Town of Winthrop.
Biggio is also an author and historian who wrote a book about World War II using stories from veterans, entitled “The Rifle.”
Finally, Swampscott will commence its Veterans Day service at 11 a.m. on Thursday on Monument Avenue.
John MacGillivray of the Marine Corps League will be the guest speaker. The celebration will be filled with music and Swampscott’s school children and Girl Scouts will present veterans with little gifts.
“We are really excited to get this tradition back, going back to Monument Avenue,” said Sweeney, who is also the veterans services director in Swampscott.
Item writers Hannah Chadwick, Alena Kuzub, Sam Minton, Anne Marie Tobin, and Sophie Yarin contributed to this report.