Memorial Day Tradition Continues as Foxborough Honors Veterans

This Memorial Day, May 30, 2011, the town of Foxborough will take part in the tradition of honoring all the men and women who have fought in our nation's wars to ensure we continue to enjoy the freedoms that we have today.

From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror, our brave military men and women in uniform have scarified so much for our country.

Foxborough residents will gather this Memorial Day to honor fallen veterans at cemeteries in town. The annual Memorial Day parade will follow, starting at the Legion on Mechanic Street and ending on the Common. The ceremony on the Common will feature Veterans Service Officer Michael Johns as the keynote speaker.

Over 87 years ago, the town of Foxborough was healing from the harsh effects of World War I. The war took a harsh toll on the town as young Foxborough lives were taken too soon, one of which included the life of Meda Morse. Morse, a Red Cross dietitian, was the only Foxborough woman to lose her life while in service.

According to author Jack Authelet, author of "Foxborough, Gem of Norfolk County," on Memorial Day in 1922 a World War I tablet was unveiled on the tiny traffic island across from Memorial Hall in Foxborough. The tablet, which was later re-located, now resides on the foot of the common. Reverend of the Universalist Church in Foxborough, Charles Conklin, summed up perfectly on that same day in 1922, the meaning of Memorial Day.

"These names will grow more and more unfamiliar but the great thing which these men and women helped to accomplish, some at the cost of their precious lives, will not be forgotten," spoke Conklin during the dedication of the War World I tablet. "this monument will assure and perpetuate that understanding in a particular local consciousness."

Foxborough will gather today, similar to as they did in 1922, to dedicate a day to those who have died serving our great country. In good times and bad times, bonding together as one is the glue of not only the town of Foxborough but the country as a whole.

*This report was complied using information from Jack Authelet's "Foxborough, Gem of Norfolk County," Arcadia Publishing, an imprint of Tempus Publishing, Inc. 2001.