WELCOME TO
MEMORIAL DAY 2020 IN SOMERVILLE. WE GATHER ONCE AGAIN AT THE NEW CEMETERY,
SMALL PERHAPS IN NUMBERS. BUT DETERMINED TO REMEMBER THE FALLEN HEROES WHO
SURROUND US. THE UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS DAY HAVE REMOVED THE USUAL
TRAPPINGS OF PARADES, BIKE RACES, PICNICS, AND TRIPS TO THE SHORE, LEAVING US
THE OPPORTUNITY TO FOCUS ON THE SILENT STONES ADORNED WITH AMERICAN FLAGS DOTTING
THE LANDSCAPE AROUND US.
SACRIFICE IS
THE WATCHWORD FOR TODAY. WE IN SOMERVILLE JOIN OUR FELLOW AMERICANS IN A
COLLECTIVE EFFORT TO DEFEAT AN UNSEEN AND UNFORGIVING FOE, BUT OUR SACRIFICES
PALE WHEN COMPARED TO THOSE OF OUR BRAVE SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN WHO FELL IN THE
NAME OF FREEDOM.
AS WE MARK THE
75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF WORLD WAR II, I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK
BRIEFLY OF ONE SUCH HERO, A MAN WHOSE NAME DOES NOT MAKE IT INTO HISTORY BOOKS,
ALTHOUGH HE WAS THE FIRST RECORDED AMERICAN DEATH IN THAT GREAT CONFLICT.
CAPTAIN ROBERT LOSEY, THE UNITED STATES ARMY AIR CORPS’ BEST AERONAUTICAL
METEOROLOGIST, WAS SERVING IN NORWAY AS THE GERMAN INVASION BEGAN. HE AND HIS
UNIT SOUGHT SHELTER FROM THE LUFTWAFFE’S BOMBS IN A NEARBY RAILWAY TUNNEL.
INSTEAD OF REMAINING IN SAFETY, LOSEY MOVED TO THE MOUTH OF THE TUNNEL TO
BETTER OBSERVE THE ACTION AND PROVIDE MORE DETAIL TO HIS SUBSEQUENT REPORT.
WITHIN SECONDS, A BOMB FRAGMENT PIERCED HIS HEART, KILLING HIM INSTANTLY. IT
WAS APRIL 21ST, 1940, A FULL 20 MONTHS BEFORE PEARL HARBOR. WHEN HE
HEARD OF THE INCIDENT, LUFTWAFFE HERMANN GORING HIMSELF SENT AN OFFICIAL
APOLOGY TO CAPTAIN LOSEY’S COMMANDER. LOSEY IS BURIED IN THE MILITARY CEMETERY
AT WEST POINT, AND IN 1980 A MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED IN HIS HONOR AT THE WAR
MEMORIAL PLAZA IN TRENTON, WHERE HE HAD GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL IN 1924.
WHEN OUR
SERVICE ENDS HERE AND WE RETURN TO THE CHALLENGES AHEAD OF US, PLEASE JOIN ME
IN REMEMBERING THE VALOR OF CAPTAIN ROBERT LOSEY AND THE COUNTLESS MEN AND
WOMEN IN UNIFORM WHO RAN TOWARDS DANGER WITHOUT THOUGHTS OF SELF. THEIR BRAVERY
SHOULD SUSTAIN US AS WE WALK TOGETHER INTO AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE. MAY GOD
CONTINUE TO BLESS SOMERVILLE, AND MAY HE ALSO CONTINUE TO BLESS THE UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA. THANK YOU.
MAYOR DENNIS
SULLIVAN
BOROUGH OF
SOMERVILLE
MAY 25, 2020