WORCESTER — Each Memorial Day, as city veterans line up before 9 a.m. at Hope Cemetery to honor their fallen comrades, Thanh Nguyen is waiting.
As the bagpipes wail and service members stand to attention, so too does Nguyen.
“Thank you all American soldiers, veterans and your families,” reads the sign he raises in silent gratitude as soldiers pass.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee who came to America in the 1980s, spoke with emotion in his voice Monday as he vowed to never forget the soldiers who died fighting communism in his country.
“I come here just to say thank you,” he said.
Nguyen was among a small but dedicated crowd of onlookers who stood watching Monday as Worcester Police Officer and U.S. Army veteran Sean Lovely, as he has for years, led a procession through the cemetery playing bagpipes.
As Lovely played "The Marines’ Hymn," onlookers waved to veterans they knew, saluted or held their hands over their hearts.
“The greatest casualty is being forgotten,” Tracy A. Racine, whose son, Army Pvt. First Class Brian M. Moquin Jr., died in Afghanistan in 2006, told observers a few minutes later. “So Memorial Day is a very important day to remember all our fallen and say their names.”
Moquin, an adventurous 19-year-old with a love of art and skateboarding, was one of several Worcester residents Mayor Joseph M. Petty mentioned by name Monday as he thanked all those who have paid the ultimate price for freedom.
“The heartbreak of loved ones hearing that a child, parent, spouse, friend or family member has been lost will never be understood by the average person,” the mayor said. “It is important for us to remember that hundreds of Worcester residents who died on the battlefield had their own stories cut short.
“We remember people like (Marines) Pvt. First Class John Shiraka and Pvt. First Class David Roy, good friends who grew up off of Hamilton Street whose parents begged them to stay in school before joining the service.
“They instead chose to go to Vietnam together and they died less than one month from each other. They were 21.”
The mayor also recalled Pvt. Thomas Flanagan, the son of Irish immigrants, killed in France at age 25 during World War I, and Buglemaster 2nd Class Lionel W. Lescault, a sailor who may have been the first person from the city to die in World War II.
“We (also) remember Pvt. First Class Brian Moquin, who died at the young age of 19 in Operation Enduring Freedom,” Petty said, as he gestured toward Racine.
Petty said there is beauty in knowing that Worcester residents have, since 1887, come to Hope Cemetery to honor their war dead.
He closed with a quote from Roy, shortly before his death.
“'If this war calls for my life, I only hope I can give it as bravely and honorably as I know only too well that my fellow Marines have,'” Petty read. “We should all be so lucky to have that level of courage and dedication.”
Racine then spoke of her son, who died in a helicopter crash May 5, 2006.
“He loved being in the Army. He said he finally found a place for him,” she said. “He loved the brotherhood. He loved the freedom for which he fought.
“He’s greatly missed, by me and all his family and friends.”
Other ceremony participants Monday included Janet Knowlton, who sang the national anthem, Worcester Veterans’ Services Officer Joe Robinson and Belinda Morrone, adjutant of American Legion East Side Post 201, and retired Col.. US. Air Force.
“We pray remembering those who have passed. We’re asked to carry their faith, love, honor and duty forward to the future generations, our youth,” Morrone said. “They must know what our warriors, our brave patriotic men and women, did.”
Morrone added those who died “created a clear pathway for us to continue on.
“We must never waver from that path of freedom and democracy,” she said.
Morrone and the Commander of East Side Post 201 Larry Sasso (U.S. Marine Sgt., retired) said afterward it’s difficult to see the dwindling crowds at services honoring veterans over the years.
“That’s why I feel like it’s my responsibility really to bring in the younger adults and children,” said Sasso, noting that many kids recently helped place thousands of flags at veterans’ graves this week.
“It was so gratifying to see,” he said. “Tracy (Racine) said it so well — it’s our responsibility to make sure…we remember the sacrifices they made.”
Monday morning’s ceremony and wreath laying at Hope Cemetery was one of several events the city was to hold to remember the fallen.
Memorials were also to be laid at the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Green Hill Park at 11 a.m. and at the Korean War Memorial on Foster Street at 1 p.m.
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