DANVERS — For those coming to attend the town’s annual Veterans Day service Tuesday, the program began as they approached Danvers High School.
First to catch one’s eye may have been a colonial militiaman standing watch at the corner of the parking lot.
Dressed nearly all in black, he wore a three-cornered hat, a long black cape, a black vest and high black boots that came nearly to his knees where they were met by tan breeches.
He carried what was widely known as a Kentucky Rifle, a muzzle-loading rifle with an uncommonly long barrel that the colonists used for game hunting and for warfare. It was called a rifle because it had spiral grooves, called rifling, in the bore, which dramatically increasing its accuracy.
The next thing one probably noticed, was the huge American flag hoisted high by a giant three-section industrial crane and flying proudly above the entrance to the High School Auditorium.
And coming faintly from the background, the mournful wail of a bagpipe.
Inside, the 20th century prevailed with scouts, color guards, police and firefighters, choir and dance troupe members, and, of course veterans, all slowly filtering into the auditorium or down corridors leading to the backstage.
Retired Marine LTC Dick Moody was introduced as MC and four members of the Beverly Civil Air Patrol marched onto the stage to present the colors as members of the Danvers High School Advanced Chorus sang “The Grand old Flag.”
The DHS Falcon Marching Band picked up the pace after LTC Moody announced they would play a medley of service songs and asked all veterans and active members of the U.S. armed forces to stand and clap when the section pertaining to their branch or that of a family member or close friend — be it Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard and Navy — was played. And so they did, with great enthusiasm.
Sally Kerans, Danvers 13th Dist. state representative, spoke briefly to remind the audience that it was from the Danvers Town Green, some 250 years ago, that militiamen had set out in the early hours of the morning to Lexington Green, to fight and die in the bloodiest battle of the first days of the Revolution — for the rights what would be the heart of our not-yet-written Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
And Maureen Bernard, chairperson of the Danvers Select Board, said that we live in the greatest country in the world because of all of us who have gone before.
Ten members of Danvers’ Refine Dance Studio provided a light moment with a rousing and entertaining dance routine to “Stars and Stripes Forever” before the keynote speaker was introduced.
LTC Moody then presented retired Navy CPT Timothy Ready. Ready has served 24 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and Naval Reserve, earning the Bronze Star with Valor and the Combat Action Ribbon in Vietnam. He has also earned the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor.
Moody began by asking “why our mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, why did they serve? and the answer will always be the same: Because they love their country, and they’re not afraid to say so. And the answer is as simple today as it was in George Washington’s Continental Army: To serve your country. And it is repeated today by dedicated young men and women.”
But times have changed, he said, “and now we have a volunteer (military) service that consists of less than one-tenth of 1% of the population. Too many Americans don’t know or don’t appreciate the sacrifices these men and women and their families who gave or are giving so much today.
“It’s the soldier today who gives us the the freedom of the press, our freedom of speech, the soldier who protects for us the rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.”
After the DHS Advance Chorus sang “God Bless America” and a younger group from the Advance Dance Studio danced to “Yankee Doodle,” the audience moved outside for a gun salute, a moment of silence, and a playing of Taps that faded into the distance.