Westborough Resident Honors Father as a Hero Among Us

“My father will forever be my greatest hero in life,” wrote Westborough resident Karen Bain-Morgado in her application to Hanscom Federal Credit Union’s Hero Among Us program. Her essay was chosen, and the Bain family gathered last week to honor him at a Lowell Spinners game.

Arnold Bain, who passed away in 2013, served in the US Army during World War II. As a young private serving in Europe he was witness to the aftermath of the Gardelegen massacre in April 1945. Over 1,000 prisoners burned to death inside a barn as German troops retreated across the countryside.

“He told me how the graphic sights, smells and feel of this experience rocked him to his core and haunted him for years afterward – long after he had returned home, married and had his children,” explained Bain-Morgado. “I was so moved by his courage in sharing with me this obviously painful story, that was still so graphic in his psyche nearly forty years after the fact, that I have carried the lesson of his strength and humanity from it ever since.”

Mr. Bain’s wife, Francine, represented the family at a pre-game ceremony and threw out the opening pitch. The family then watched from a luxury suite as the Spinners and the Brooklyn Cylcones played.