The six men from Melrose who perished during the Korean War will be honored permanently on Sunday as the City of Melrose dedicates a beautiful black granite monument featuring their names and likenesses.

The monument will serve as a place for remembrance and reflection for all who served in sacrificed in the war known commonly as "The Forgotten War."

The dedication will feature guest speaker and Korean War veteran Joe Sullivan, the Moulaison family, students from Operation Remember, traditional military honors and music honoring Memorial Day.

Monument Symbolism

A good veteran monument will remember and it will educate. This monument does both by including the names and pictures of the fallen and paying tribute to the more than 1,000 Melrosians who served during the Korean War era.

The 54 paving stones found in front of the monument represent the 54,000 U.S. service members killed during the Korean War conflict. The layout of the paving stones and the juniper plants found between them pay homage to the National Korean War Memorial in Washington DC.

The six plantings behind the monument represent the six KIA from Melrose.

The nine bushes planted around the monument represent the nine men from Melrose who perished during the conflict home and abroad.

The benches not only represent the years of the Korean War, but also a response to comments at the spring veteran town hall meeting that this monument should have a place for reflection.

The "Freedom Is Not Free" expression found at the bottom of the stone also comes directly from the National Korean War Monument, a place where students and veterans from Operation Remember placed a wreath of remembrance on behalf of the city.

This dedication is truly a community effort. 

* Operation Remember, a group of Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School students researched, raised funds and will help dedicate the memorial. Residents assisted in this effort by supporting the Melrose Veterans Open, the Chili Chowder Fest, several Liberty Bell Fundraisers, the annual MVMMS raffle calendar and various private donations from veterans and supporters around the city

* The Melrose Veterans Advisory Board and the Melrose Veterans Memory Project volunteered time, money and love to ensure the accuracy of the stone, the picture quality and the meaning behind the memorial

* John Gately, who has personal connections to Korean War veterans, donated the inscription and engraving costs

* The Melrose DPW worked tirelessly to place, enhance and beautify the area surrounding the monument

* The City of Melrose raised the additional funds necessary to complete the project

* Rock of Ages completed the monument work

* John Gregario, a local contractor, found and donated the pavers which lead up to the monument

And countless more! A tremendous effort with a beautiful result.

This week Melrose held its Spring Veteran Town Hall meeting to discuss coming Memorial Day 2015 events including the dedication of the new Korean War monument.

Massachusetts Secretary of Veteran Services Francisco Urena was on hand for the meeting, telling the dozens of veterans gathered that he supports having veteran services officers in each community because they are able to address the local needs of a community's veterans. He also answered questions before and after the meeting about the direction of his administration.

Melrose Air Force veteran David Mahoney was also honored as part of Melrose Veteran Services ongoing Veterans of the Year program. Mahoney dedicates countless hours to the city assisting with the Welcome Home Banner, driving veterans to VA appointments and serving as a go-to veteran for local events and programs.

The night concluded with a discussion about holding a special ceremony prior to the Memorial Day Parade on Sunday May 24th. The ceremony will feature Korean War veterans and members of Operation Remember as we pay tribute to the "Forgotten War."

A lively discussion included a vote about the location of the new Korean War monument. Although many locations in Melrose would be an excellent spot for the beautiful stone, town hall veterans chose the Knoll as the best landing spot. It will serve as an additional piece in the ongoing restoration of one of the city's most sacred pieces of land.

Melrose Veteran Services in conjunction with the Melrose Veterans Advisory Board will continue to host semi-annual town hall meetings to help set the direction of veteran benefit delivery and programming. The next town hall meeting is schedule for October in anticipation of the Veterans Day holiday.

The Saugus Veterans Council, charged with honoring Saugus veterans with advocacy and outreach to include the Veterans Day and Memorial Day parades, is selling military challenge coins complete with the council's logo and any branch of military service desired.

The coins are high quality and help support a great cause. The cost is also very low, $5 for council members and $10 for veteran supporters. Every veteran who lives in Saugus or is a member of the Saugus Veteran Organization is automatically considered a member of the council.

The purchase a coin for yourself or a loved on, please send an email to this address or contact our Saugus office.

This is still time to register for the Boston's Wounded Veterans 5k in Saugus on Sunday, October 12. The race begins at 10 a.m. and participants will receive some excellent participation prizes to include the medal shown.

The race benefits the Boston Wounded Vet Run, a local charity dedicated to assisting local veterans seriously wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

You can register the day of the event, but preregistered runners receive a $5 discount. To register for the race follow this link.

We will be attending the ground breaking ceremony next Friday to support the construction of a permanent public memorial honoring Massachusetts service members who gave their lives in conflicts following September 11, 2011. The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. at the New Seaport Square Park in South Boston.

Memorials such as these represent a commitment by local communities to support a permanent remembrance for those we have lost and those families still dealing with the tragedy of sacrificing a loved in service to a grateful nation. We encourage you to join us as we support this important effort.

To see more about the monument and its design, visit the Massachusetts Fallen Heroes Web site.

Melrose and Saugus will hold special ceremonies on Friday to honor the more than 80,000 U.S. service members still unaccounted for as Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. These ceremonies continue a districtwide tradition of honoring this special and important population of veterans and their families.

The City of Melrose will name the corners of Franklin and Albion Street after Minor McLain, a decorated WWII veteran and long time resident who was detained for a time by Germans forces in the European Theatre. McLain was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart during his distinguished service which included combat action during the famed Battle of the Bulge.

The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and feature local dignitaries, McLain's friends and family and the unveiling of the PFC Minor H. McLain Square monument complete with a biography of this special Melrosian's life. The Harold O Young VFW Post 2394 will host a gathering to celebrate McLain following the ceremony. McLain was a long-time member of the post and served as historian and chaplain.

Saugus will also mark the veteran day of remembrance with a special ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. in the Community Room of the Saugus Public Library on Taylor Street. Members of the Saugus Veterans Council and American Legion invite the public to join them in this annual remembrance.

According to the council, "This ceremony symbolizes our missing veterans, their families, faith and hope for their return. The ceremony will include the Lynn English H.S. MC TROTC, a truly exceptional group 
that proudly reminds us of our responsibility to remember those lost and those yet to be found."

We will not forget.

Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran Marvin Pena is teaming up with the Boston Wounded Vet Run to run in support of wounded veterans...this time with feet rather than motorcycles.

"I have personally observed what type impact combat leaves in soldiers, not everyone who goes to combat comes back, but the ones that do, do not come back as they left," Pena said. "I take this mission as a top priority because every Soldier, Sailor, Marine, or Airman that has served and serves is family. Family always give a hand to family."

The road race is scheduled for 10 a.m. Sunday October 12 beginning at 177 Forest Street in Saugus. It is $35 to run if participants sign up in advance or $40 on race day. The event is a 5k. According to the event's sponsor, all participants will receive a free t-shirt for their support.

Pena joins a large contingent of supporters helping to raise money for the Boston Wounded Vet Run, an organization in its fifth year donating money to New England area wounded veterans. Thousands of motorcycles participate annually to honor the group's recipients. This year, the Run is taking on a fourth recipient, expanding their fundraising effort and need to generate funds.

Runners and supports interested in this event can visit the Web site or contact Marvin Pena through email or phone 617-981-0124.

The Saugus Veterans Council is the driving force behind the Veterans Day and Memorial Day parades in the patriotic town of Saugus. The Saugus Memorial Day parade, a signature town event, is scheduled to kick off Saturday, May 23rd at 9 a.m. The parade, running from Jackson Street to Saugus Town Center features two stops at Riverside Cemetery and Saugus Town Hall for special ceremonies honoring Saugus service and sacrifice.

This year's parade Grand Marshall is Medal of Honor recipient Thomas Hudner, a Massachusetts hero who received the first Medal of Honor awarded for the Korean War. Dan Clark, the "Singing Trooper," will provide patriotic entertainment for the gathered crown at Saugus Town Hall.

The annual Melrose Memorial Day Parade is sponsored by the City and organized by a collection of volunteers to include the Melrose Parade Committee, the Melrose Veterans Advisory Board and local veteran organizations. The parade is scheduled to kick off Sunday, May 25th at 1:30 p.m. and runs from Memorial Hall on Main Street to the closing ceremonies at Wyoming Cemetery. Residents are welcome to line the streets and wave American flags for the many veterans, bands and military organizations that make up the tribute.

This year's theme is honoring the Civil War. The parade's Grand Marshall is the family of Cornelius Casey, a Melrose Civil War veteran. The parade starts at Memorial Hall, the city's largest Civil War monument where a flag display is currently honoring the 620,000 men who perished to preserve the Union. The parade runs from restored monument to restored monument, highlighting the return of the copper wreath on Memorial Hall to the restored Grand Army of the Republic Memorial in Wyoming Cemetery. Eagle Scout candidate Jonathon Havey worked hard to restore the GAR monument and funds for the projects came from middle school students in the Operation Gettysburg Club. The keynote speaker at the parade's closing ceremony is Vietnam Veteran Jim Muschett, Bronze Star with Valor recipient and Operation Gettysburg alumni.

The hardworking members of the Wakefield American Legion once again organized the annual Wakefield Memorial Day Parade scheduled for Monday, May 26th at 1 p.m. Members of the legion will join community groups and march down Main Street from the Galvin Middle School to the WWII monument on the Veterans Memorial Common for a special Memorial Day Ceremony.

The keynote speaker is Vietnam Veteran Thomas Lyons, a central figure in Massachusetts veteran advocacy efforts for his decades of service in dozens of veteran organizations and commissions to include Deputy Commissions of Boston Veteran Services, the Executive Director of the New England Center for Homeless Veterans and the Governor's Veterans Advisory Council. Mr. Lyons is also a member of the Wakefield Veterans Advisory Board and is central in many projects honoring the Wakefield veteran population.

For almost a full calendar year, 14 eighth-graders from the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School researched Melrose's role in the Civil War, focusing on Gettysburg and learning about the great sacrifice of the war between the states. Meeting weekly, the students absorbed several themes:

1.) Civil War veterans were once "those soldiers returning from war," similar to the soldier faces they see coming home from Afghanistan and Iraq and living in our community as veterans from the WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Cold War and Persian Gulf eras. No matter the service era, we should never forget.

2.) Civil War monuments, once a focal point of living groups of veterans and a symbol of their willingness to serve and the heroes we lost, face disrepair over time as memories fade. It is up to the residents of Melrose, in conjunction with the City and local veteran service organizations, to make sure these monuments retain their original honor. No matter the installation date, we should never forget.

3.) There is a connection between the names of the soldiers from the Civil War they researched and the names of the veterans they interviewed who are attending the trip. A veteran is a veteran and by researching one, they are in a way researching all. Their work is helping us to not forget.

Armed with these themes, the students of Operation Gettysburg will join 20 veterans and travel to the Gettysburg National Battlefield on May 8-10. They will lay wreaths at key monuments connected to Melrose, honor the past by presenting their research and they will memorialize the present by recording the history of today's veterans.

It's an exciting week as we look forward to the trip and we start the restoration projects forming a key part of the Operation Gettysburg Club experience. The Operation Gettysburg Club raised more than $10000 to defer trip costs (for first-time veterans only) and pay for the restoration projects. Here are the projects already underway:

1.) Restoring the missing copper wreath on Memorial Hall (Main Street)

2.) Upgrade the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial (Wyoming Cemetery)

3.) Clean and Restore the Hesseltine Medal of Honor monument (Wyoming Cemetery)

4.) Lift and straighten the graves of Civil War veterans (Wyoming Cemetery)

5.) Highlight and clean the Baldwin Memorial (Wyoming Cemetery)

We plan to update the community as our trip progress (via Twitter @melroseVSO) and bring back pictures and stories to thank the community for their donations, volunteerism and support.

And once the trip is in the history books, we will continue to honor the Civil War in the upcoming 2014 Melrose Memorial Day Events. Our parade will march from the upgrade at Memorial Hall to the upgrades at Wyoming cemetery in addition to having the decedents of a Melrose Civil War veteran serve as our Grand Marshall. 

It's a simple, but important mission - we will never forget.

If you missed District VSO Andrew Biggio's Boston's Wounded Vet Run 2014 and the thousands of motorcycles that rumbled through the North Shore Sunday, we are collecting media coverage here for you to experience. Send us your videos!

But more importantly, there is still time to donate to three deserving wounded warriors who sacrificed on behalf of us all.

Make your 2014 donation