Life After Windbird, Day 91: Veterans Day in Falmouth
Date: Friday, November 11, 2016
Weather: Beautiful Day with Heavy Winds in the PM; High 64, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home at the Studio, Falmouth, MA
The speakers at today’s Veterans Day observance in downtown Falmouth were giving thanks to our veterans, but also for the gorgeous weather. It was Cape Cod perfect with no need for a jacket—as good as it gets this time of year. Heather and Jed are both scout leaders, so they were in the parade with Sam and Jonah leading from the village green to the library lawn. As I was walking down Main Street toward the green, I realized how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place. Down town Falmouth has one main street dominated by a gorgeous library and huge library lawn that takes up a full city block. Front and center on the library lawn is a white marble WWI memorial with the sidewalk that leads to the front door of the library flanked on each side with plaques commemorating fallen soldiers. This is named Memorial Lane and on Veterans Day the parade of scouts, boys and girls of all ages, marches from the village green up to the front of the library by way of Memorial Lane led by military honor guard,
all walking to the beat of the Brian Boru Scottish bagpipe band.
The city firemen always have a huge American flag flying high above at the top of the tallest ladder on their main fire engine. And a statue of Katherine Lee Bates, a Falmouth resident that wrote America the Beautiful, presides over all of this. The scene couldn’t be more patriotic. As the parade of scouts walked down Main Street, I spotted Jed, then Heather, Jonah, and Ollie.
And before I knew it, Ollie was by my side and he stayed with me for the rest of the observance. He helped me find Sam amidst the sea of scouts and then we walked to the library lawn to see them all walk down Memorial Lane. The ceremony was a little long, but Ollie entertained himself by watching the line of firemen dressed in all their gear who were there to listen to the speeches. He was fascinated with them.
And once he decided he had stared at them long enough, he picked up colorful fall leaves to press. The Greater Falmouth Community chorus as well as the Falmouth High School chorus were there to sing the Star-spangled Banner, the Navy hymn, and a medley of songs representing the various branches of our armed services. Ollie loved the music. The ceremony ends each year by having all veterans present gather at the WWI memorial and walk down Memorial Lane with the scouts saluting the entire time and everyone else clapping. I’m sure some version of this is observed in small towns all around the country, but this one is quintessential New England. When all of the veterans were walking down Memorial Lane, Ollie looked at me and said, “If Granddad was here, he could be walking with them. He was a veteran.” Not exactly, but I didn’t correct Ollie. Mark was in the Army Reserve and Ollie has seen pictures of him in uniform. Mark joined the National Guard while in high school and then went in for basic training right after graduation in 1960. He did this to help pay for his college education, which it did, but when you are in the Reserves, they make sure you are released from active duty on day 180 so that you can’t receive other benefits intended for those who serve longer.
Tonight Sam, Jonah, and Ollie are spending the night with me. I was going to their house to babysit tonight, but Ollie suggested that they come have dinner and spend the night with me. Sam and Jonah went along with that suggestion and we had a delightful evening together. But they will be up at the crack of dawn, so I had better get myself to bed so I can get up with them in the morning. Tomorrow is the last day of soccer for this season, so we’ll be heading to the field early.
