Around the Valley, communities salute those who served

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CAROL LOLLIS

Andrew Therrien, 6, of Easthampton, covers his ears during one of the gun salutes by the 10th Mass reenactment volunteers during the Northampton Veterans Day parade.

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CAROL LOLLIS

Danielle Deberry and her son Abel Danberry ,6, watch Northamtpon's Veterans Day parade Wednesday.

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CAROL LOLLIS

Steve Weiss of Chicopee takes part in the Northampton Veterans Day ceremony Wednesday.

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CAROL LOLLIS

A Coast Guard flag is raised at World Ward II Club on Conz Street in Northampton, where five new flags, representing each branch of the military have been installed. They are, from left, Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force.

NORTHAMPTON - Seven flags now fly outside the World War II Club. The American flag has been there all along; so has one for prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. But the five in a line along Conz Street - those are new. One by one Wednesday, members of each branch of the U.S. military raised their banners up the newly-installed flagpoles, part of the Valley's many tributes to American servicemen and servicewomen on Veterans Day.

First the flag of the Army, then the Navy, then the Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force. The official song of each military branch came over a loudspeaker as each flag went up.

"I thought it would be good to show the city of Northampton that we care about our veterans," said Jason Harder.

Retired from the Air Force, Harder served as a medic in Iraq during the current conflict and the Gulf War. A Florence resident, Harder recently took over as president of the World War II Veterans Association, which owns the bar and banquet hall just outside downtown. Since June he's been leading projects to spruce up the club.

Recently some volunteers from the Soldier On homeless shelter helped paint the once yellow building a very military shade of drab green. Harder estimates local businesses donated about $3,500 in cash and material for the projects.

American flags at the World War II Club and elsewhere around the city have been flying at half-staff in recent days, first in honor of two Massachusetts soldiers killed in Afghanistan, and then in memory of those killed in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas.

Wednesday's dedication of the new flagpoles followed the annual Veterans Day parade down Main Street.

Service members past and present marched in uniform to Memorial Hall for a short ceremony. There Soldier On vice president Steven Como spoke about his organization's efforts to help homeless veterans.

With locations at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds and in Pittsfield, Soldier On is now emphasizing cooperative housing as a way to help veterans get a foothold returning to civilian life. The organization hopes to build apartments in Leeds and Agawam, Como said.

"If you really want to be able to change the end of the story for returning veterans, it's going to have to be safe and affordable housing," Como said.

Back at "The Deuce," veterans and their families reflected on the day over beers and chop suey.

"I personally like to keep Veterans Day on a more upbeat note, because Memorial Day is hard," said Gerry Clark of Leeds, a Vietnam War veteran.

A radio operator who served with an infantry squadron in the Mekong Delta, Clark said he lost a lot of friends in the service.

"Being a veteran separates you a little bit from the crowd," said Daniel Kibe of Northampton, who is soon to retire from the Air Force Reserves.

A member of the 439th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Kibe has taken part several missions flying wounded out of Iraq and Afghanistan to hospitals in Germany or the U.S.

"It's a wonderful feeling to put that effort into such a worthy cause," Kibe said of being a medic. "That is the most satisfying part of being in the military."

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.