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By MADDIE FABIAN

HOLYOKE — On Wednesday evening, Holyoke veteran Kurt Bluemer arrived home to twinkling white lights lining the porch rail, roof and bushes outside his house and a prominent wreath hanging from the top window.The decorations were hung earlier that day...

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — The town’s recreation and veterans services departments and the Council on Aging will merge under a new human services department in fiscal year 2025 to maximize impact of social and mental health services within new budget...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Since Arcpoint Brewery partners Chris Peterson, CJ Eldridge and Dave Pare began their mission to open a brewery and taproom several years ago, all three men were determined to put it in Belchertown.Following their slogan “brew with...

By SAM DRYSDALE

BOSTON — Calling it “historic,” Gov. Maura Healey unveiled legislation this week — timed to coincide with Veterans Day — that will increase benefits, modernize services and promote inclusivity for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts veterans.Filed...

By EMILEE KLEIN

SOUTH HADLEY — Brian Willette remembers the moment in 2010 like it was yesterday.While recovering at a small camp in Afghanistan from a head and back injury caused by an improvised explosive device that hit the gun truck he drove, the U.S. Army...

By EMILEE KLEIN

GRANBY — Town veterans have a permanent home, at long last.After a dozen years of planning and fundraising, Granby Memorial Park is set for an official soft launch on Veterans Day this Saturday.“They’ve never really truly had an actual Veterans...

By MADDIE FABIAN

EASTHAMPTON — As a veteran, Lin Chambliss knows firsthand the isolation and disconnect that comes with returning from the service.He himself missed part of his kids’ childhood, “time I can’t get back,” he said.“Many veterans, they feel forgotten… They...

By STEVE PFARRER

Though she was too young to understand many details at the time, Mollye Maxner remembers the Vietnam War had a profound effect on her family. Her father, Steve Maxner, served as a combat medic in the war and endured emotional turmoil from his...

By SAM DORAN

Gov. Maura Healey on Wednesday swore in the members of a new state board set to help get state benefits flowing to veterans who were denied an honorable discharge because of the U.S. military’s former “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.The reception in...

By MADDIE FABIAN

GRANBY — In January 1970, while serving as a hospital corpsman in Vietnam, Jim Bouchard treated John Hurley after he was injured during the war. It wasn’t until decades later, when the two Purple Heart recipients were at a Veterans of Foreign Wars...

By Chris Lisinski

One of the Legislature’s point people on veterans’ affairs threw his support behind a campaign to give service members a bigger role in Massachusetts Democratic Party conventions. Sen. John Velis of Westfield, who co-chairs the Veterans and Federal...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Note: This is the first in a series of profiles on veterans honored in Easthampton’s military banner program. EASTHAMPTON — Born in Montague in 1920, Tadeus Glazewski — known by most simply as “Ted” or “Teddy” — was a fun-loving father and...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

HOLYOKE — An Air Force veteran who served the United States from 1950 to 1954, Dennis Thresher was at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke when he contracted COVID in 2020, was hospitalized with the illness four times and died from pneumonia in January...

By MADDIE FABIAN

Five separate initiatives supporting veterans of all walks of life are included in the state’s $56 billion fiscal 2024 budget signed into law Wednesday.The budget includes around $1.7 million for programs championed by state Sen. John Velis,...

By MADDIE FABIAN

EASTHAMPTON — Last winter, some of the money raised from a military tribute banner project was put toward buying new boots and wool socks for three Easthampton veterans who couldn’t afford them.Now, for the sixth year, the banners are once again...

By EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — As the invisible wounds of war continue to take a toll on veterans, one city native is fighting a mission off the battlefield through art therapy.For the past seven years, Steve Jones has been providing veterans, active duty members and...

By DOMENIC POLI

DEERFIELD — The parents of Meaghan Burns, a U.S. corpsman killed by a peer four years ago, have organized a 5K this holiday weekend to honor all fallen American service members.Carolyn and Matthew Burns teamed with “wear blue: run to remember” to hold...

By EMILY THURLOW

EASTHAMPTON — Robert Cayo was in his early 20s when he sustained body-altering injuries during the Korean War on Pork Chop Hill that he still carries with him today.Through his actions with the U.S. Army in Company A, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry...

By CHRIS LISINSKI

A criminal trial can proceed against two former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home officials accused of negligence that led to the deaths of elderly veteran residents early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s highest court ruled Thursday.In a 5-2 decision that...

By EMILY THURLOW

SOUTHAMPTON — Spanning a section of the Manhan River, the East Street bridge connects Route 10 in downtown Southampton to the border of Holyoke. For more than 90 years, the overpass, which was rebuilt last year, has been referred to by the name of the...

By MADDIE FABIAN

SOUTH HADLEY — When Jim Bouchard returned to the United States after serving as a medic in the Vietnam War, he was called a “baby killer” by a stranger in a bar.On Wednesday, he was one of many veterans recognized in a Vietnam Veterans Day...