2015

MEMORIAL DAY, MAY 25, 2015 in ANDOVER, MA

Michael W. Morris, Jr – Guest Speaker – Memorial Day Address

THANK YOU TO THE PATRIOTIC HOLIDAY COMMITTEE, AND PARTICULARLY BUZZ STAPCZYNSKI, FOR INVITING ME TO SPEAK TODAY.

IT IS AN HONOR AND A PRIVILEGE FOR ME. WHEN I LOOK UPON THE VETERANS IN FRONT OF ME, IT IS AN HONOR AND PRIVILEGE I KNOW I DON’T DESERVE GIVEN THAT I NEVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY.

I ALSO FEEL THIS WAY, BECAUSE GROWING UP IN ANDOVER I HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE OF MEETING SOME OF THE MANY PEOPLE FROM OUR TOWN WHO ANSWERED OUR NATION’S CALL IN TIMES OF PERIL.

IT WAS MY PRIVILEGE TO GET TO KNOW PEOPLE LIKE THE LATE FRED STOTT WHO WON THE NAVY CROSS AT SAIPAN; WHO WAS INJURED AT IWO JIMA AND WHO WAS A GREAT LEADER IN THIS TOWN.

IT HAS BEEN MY PRIVILEGE TO MEET PEOPLE LIKE ROGER COLLINS, MAL LYNCH, JOSH MINER AND DOC DUNBAR AND SO MANY OTHERS WHO RISKED THEIR LIVES AND WITNESSED UNSPEAKABLE EVENTS IN WORLD WAR 2 AND THE CONFLICTS THAT CAME THEREAFTER.

IT HAS BEEN MY HONOR TO MEET MEN LIKE JOHN DOHERTY WHO, AFTER GRADUATING FROM HARVARD, VOLUNTEERED FOR THE VIETNAM WAR, SERVED TWO TOURS OF DUTY, AND WAS WOUNDED THREE TIMES. JOHN’S COMMITMENT TO OUR NATION’S IDEALS SHOULD SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE TO ALL OF US.

IT WAS MY SPECIAL HONOR TO KNOW AND LOVE MY OWN UNCLE FRANK, WHO LIVED JUST STEPS AWAY FROM HERE WHEN HE LEFT HIS YOUNG WIFE AND A PROMISING LEGAL CAREER TO SERVE IN VIETNAM. HE DID SO, BECAUSE HE BELIEVED THAT – JUST LIKE ANYONE ELSE – HE OWED IT TO HIS COUNTRY TO SERVE.

THESE VETERANS ARE JUST A FEW OF THE MANY MEN AND WOMEN FROM ANDOVER WHO HAVE SERVED IN RECENT CONFLICTS.

IN SPEAKING WITH THEM, TWO CONCEPTS WERE ALWAYS VERY APPARENT.

FIRST, NO MATTER HOW MANY MEDALS THEY MIGHT HAVE WON AND NO MATTER HOW MUCH WE ADMIRED THEM FOR THEIR SACRIFICES, THEY DID NOT CONSIDER THEMSELVES HEROES.

FOR THEM, THE TRUE HEROES WERE THE ONES WHO DID NOT COME BACK.

SECOND, THEY DID NOT FEEL COMFORTABLE TALKING ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES.

AND WHO COULD BLAME THEM? WHO AMONG US CAN TRULY APPRECIATE WHAT THESE MEN EXPERIENCED AND ENDURED?

SO, WHEN I WAS ASKED TO SPEAK TODAY IN PART ABOUT THE CIVIL WAR, MY MIND KEPT RETURNING TO THOSE I KNEW WHO HAD FOUGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY.

I BELIEVE THOSE WHO LEFT ANDOVER TO FIGHT IN THE CIVIL WAR WERE NOT MUCH DIFFERENT THAN THE PEOPLE I JUST MENTIONED.

THEY LEFT THEIR FAMILIES, FRIENDS AND LOVED ONES. THEY LEFT PROMISING FUTURES FOR UNCERTAINTY. THEY DID IT IN MOST CASES BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED IN OUR NATION’S IDEALS. ULTIMATELY THEY DID IT BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

WE NEED TO REMEMBER THAT 150 YEARS AGO ROUGHLY 1 OUT OF EVERY 4 MEN IN THE TOWN OF ANDOVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.

1 OUT OF EVERY 4.   WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

IT MEANS THAT WHEN A REGIMENT CONTAINING A COMPANY COMPRISED OF 100 ANDOVER SOLDIERS WAS ENGAGED IN A FIERCE BATTLE – AS WAS THE CASE THROUGHOUT THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF 1864 – THIS TOWN, ONLY DAYS LATER, WOULD BE TURNED UPSIDE DOWN WHEN NEWS OF THOSE WHO WERE KILLED, WOUNDED AND CAPTURED WAS RECEIVED BY TELEGRAPH.

IT ALSO MEANS THAT 150 YEARS AGO TO THIS DAY NEARLY EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN ANDOVER HAD A SON, A BROTHER, A FATHER, AN UNCLE – OR KNEW A FRIEND OR HAD A NEIGHBOR – WHO EITHER DIED OR WAS WOUNDED IN THE WAR OR WHO WOULD RETURN FOREVER CHANGED BY ITS TERRIBLE HORRORS.

AS A SOCIETY WE REMEMBER AND HONOR – AS WE DO HERE TODAY – THOSE SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN COMBAT. WE TEND TO REMEMBER A BIT LESS THOSE WHO DIED FROM THEIR WOUNDS LONG AFTER THE BATTLE. WE REMEMBER EVEN LESS THOSE WHO WERE DISABLED FROM THEIR COMBAT WOUNDS.

WE SOON FORGET THOSE WHO RETURNED TO US PSYCHOLOGICALLY WOUNDED.

WE CAN NEVER TRULY APPRECIATE WHAT THESE MEN ENDURED DURING THE CIVIL WAR. AS TIME PASSES, WHAT LITTLE UNDERSTANDING WE HAVE BEGINS TO BE LOST TO HISTORY.

ALMOST LOST TO HISTORY IS THE STORY OF 15 YEAR OLD DRUMMER BOY GEORGE SMART. GEORGE WAS THE HEALTHY AND STRONG CHILD OF IMMIGRANTS WHO WORKED IN AN ANDOVER MILL. HE WAS THE SON OF HUGH AND JANE SMART.

WE NEARLY FORGET WHO THOMAS BAGLEY WAS. WHEN WAR BROKE OUT IN 1861, THOMAS WAS WORKING AS A CARPENTER’S APPRENTICE. WHEN THOMAS MARCHED OFF TO WAR, HIS 4 YOUNGER SIBLINGS, JOSHUA, JOHN, SARAH AND JANE –ALL UNDER THE AGE OF 14 – SAID GOODBYE TO HIM.

WE BARELY REMEMBER EPAPHRUS BRYANT. EPAPHRUS WAS A 34 YEAR OLD ARTIST AND INVENTOR WITH A BRIGHT FUTURE WHEN WAR BEGAN. WHEN HE VOLUNTEERED IN RESPONSE TO LINCOLN’S CALL FOR MORE TROOPS, HE AND HIS WIFE ISAPHENE HAD A 4 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER NAMED FLORA BELLE AND A 2 YEAR OLD SON NAMED FRANK.

THERE WERE NEARLY 700 MEN LIKE GEORGE, THOMAS AND EPAPHRUS WHO LEFT ANDOVER TO FIGHT. SOME CAME FROM FAMILIES WHO LIVED IN ANDOVER FOR 200 YEARS. OTHERS CAME FROM FAMILIES WHO HAD LIVED IN ANDOVER FOR JUST A FEW. SOME WERE WEALTHY AND EDUCATED, MANY WERE NOT.

ALL OF THEM LEFT LOVED ONES BEHIND.

TODAY WE ARE SURROUNDED IN TOWN BY THE NAMES OF SUCH CIVIL WAR HEROES –– BARNARD, CHEEVER, HOLT, LOVEJOY, AND PASHO BEING JUST SOME OF THEM – BUT DO WE TRULY UNDERSTAND SUCH MEN, THEIR STORIES OR THE SACRIFICES THEY MADE?

MANY OF US HAVE HEARD OF THE BATTLES ANDOVER MEN FOUGHT IN – MANASSAS, ANTIETAM, GETTYSBURG, SPOTSYLVANIA, COLD HARBOR AND PETERSBURG BEING JUST A FEW – BUT DO WE REALLY APPRECIATE WHAT THESE MEN EXPERIENCED AT SUCH PLACES?

TODAY WE CAN BARELY FATHOM THE IMPACT THE CIVIL WAR HAD IN ANDOVER OR THE ANGUISH FELT BY PARENTS, SIBLINGS, FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS WHEN NEWS FROM THE WAR WAS RECEIVED IN TOWN.

WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT HUGH AND JANE SMART FELT WHEN NEWS CAME THAT THEIR THEN 16 YEAR OLD DRUMMMER BOY GEORGE SMART HAD DIED OF DISEASE.

THOMAS BAGLEY – OLDER BROTHER TO JOSHUA, JOHN, SARAH AND JANE – MANAGED TO MAKE IT THROUGH 3 YEARS OF WAR AND 3 OF THE CIVIL WAR’S BIGGEST BATTLES ONLY TO BE CAPTURED AND THEN IMPRISONED AT ANDERSONVILLE. JUST 2 MONTHS LATER STARVATION TOOK HIS LIFE AT THE AGE OF 22.

BY THE TIME EPAPHRUS BRYANT FIRST SAW COMBAT IN 1864, HE AND HIS WIFE ISAPHENE HAD A THIRD CHILD TOGETHER, NAMED – IRONICALLY ENOUGH – VIRGINIA. FLORA BELLE, FRANK AND VIRGINIA BRYANT WERE JUST 7, 5 AND 1 WHEN THEIR FATHER WAS SHOT IN THE LEG AT SPOTSYLVANIA.

THEY WERE LEFT FATHERLESS WHEN EPAPHRUS DIED FROM HIS WOUNDS JUST 1 MONTH LATER.

MEN LIKE GEORGE SMART, THOMAS BAGLEY AND EPAPHRUS BRYANT WERE JUST 3 OF THE OVER 70 ANDOVER SOLDIERS WHO DIED IN THE CIVIL WAR AND WHO LEFT LOVED ONES BEHIND.

THERE WERE ANOTHER 70 ANDOVER SOLDIERS WHO WERE WOUNDED IN THE WAR, MANY TERRIBLY SO.

WE KNOW THAT 35 ANDOVER SOLDIERS WOULD DIE IN THE 15 YEARS FOLLOWING THE WAR.

WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE NUMBER OF ANDOVER SOLDIERS WHO WERE PERMANENTLY WOUNDED PSYCHOLOGICALLY SURELY AS SO MANY OF THEM WERE.

WE MUST REMEMBER, THOUGH, WHAT THESE MEN DID AND WHAT THEY SACRIFICED.

WE MUST REMEMBER ULTIMATELY WHAT THEY REPRESENT TO US.

THEY LEFT ANDOVER DETERMINED TO PRESERVE THE NATION AND THE DEMOCRATIC IDEALS ESTABLISHED BY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS.

THEY RISKED THEIR LIVES IN DEFENSE OF THOSE IDEALS AND IN DEFENSE OF THEIR LOVED ONES.

THOSE THAT DIED AND THOSE THAT DID RETURN – HOWEVER WOUNDED OR DISABLED – HELPED FREE MILLIONS OF SLAVES AND HELPED SECURE A MORE PERFECT UNION.

LIKE FRED STOTT AND JOHN DOHERTY AND SO MANY WHO CAME LONG AFTER THEM, ANDOVER’S CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS WERE WILLING TO GIVE THEIR LIVES SO THAT OTHERS LIKE US MIGHT LIVE FREELY.

ULTIMATELY WE MUST REMEMBER THAT THESE MEN WERE OUR SONS – OUR BROTHERS – OUR FATHERS – AND OUR UNCLES.

THEY WERE OUR BOYS.

THEY WERE AND ARE

OUR HEROES.

MAY WE ALWAYS REMEMBER THEM AND MAY WE ALWAYS HONOR THEM.

THANK YOU.

(Michael W. Morris, Jr.)

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