MANCHESTER, NH—Wind rustling through fluorescent-red maple trees competed with the rumble of nearby construction and a passing siren to render the amplified words coming from the speakers on stage almost unintelligible. But the spirit of gratitude during the ceremony in Manchester’s Veterans Memorial Park following Monday’s Veterans Day Parade came through loud and clear.
“Technology isn’t our best friend all the time, but you get the gist of it, you know?” said attendee Ariel Sullivan, an emergency room nurse at The Elliot and Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for children who have experienced abuse or neglect. She also happens to be Miss New Hampshire USA 2024.
Sullivan, who was crowned 2024 Miss New Hampshire USA in June, “was asked to be in the parade together” with her “mission partner through Best Buddies,” Katelyn McKivergen. They decided to stick around for the ceremony.
“Both my grandfathers, my great-grandfather, and my father were all veterans,” said Sullivan, “Army, Marines, and Air Force.” While she grew up ensconced in a family of veterans, Sullivan noted that she thinks it is still “really important to show thanks” publicly to veterans. Sullivan and McKivergen wore matching red coats, tiaras, and white sashes, which read “Miss New Hampshire USA” and “Miss Inspiration.”
City and state government officials and veterans took turns giving speeches honoring veterans—their words at times lost to the meek microphone battling valiantly with the wind and construction— to a modestly sizable crowd. Manchester’s West High School band played the Star-Spangled Banner at the beginning of the ceremony and Taps at the end. A Girl Scout troop led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. A local priest offered a prayer to open the ceremony and a benediction to close.
Manchester’s mayor, Jay Ruais, said, “We honor the bravery, courage, and commitment of the men and women who serve in the armed forces,” and noted that there are “twenty-five thousand veterans in Hillsborough County” alone.
U.S. Congressman Chris Pappas said the day was meant to honor “our city’s sons and daughters continu[ing] to step up to serve our nation.” He also took a moment to recognize the long career in local politics of State Senator Lou D’Allesandro, who took the stage and addressed the crowd as well. He announced his retirement earlier this year after more than 50 years of public service.
New Hampshire governor-elect Kelly Ayotte, who is married to Joe Daley, a retired U.S. Air Force pilot, and is the mother of a new Air Force Academy Cadet,daughter Kate, also spoke. She was wearing a blue polo sweater emblazoned with an American flag, and jeans, which stood out against the suits or uniforms of the other speakers on the stage.
A new bronze statue honoring combat photographers was presented at this ceremony.
“They were the unsung heroes,” said parade Grand Marshal Jim Adams, “They risked their lives to [document] history.” Vietnam combat Photographer Mike Lopez spoke about the statue, while Mayor Ruais placed a ceremonial wreath at its base.
“The monument brings back memories of my troop in Vietnam,” said Lopez in an interview after the ceremony, showing an old, framed picture of his “motion picture and still photography” unit.
The statue is by Matt Glenn and was paid for by Josh Denoncourt, a Specialist 4 combat photographer who “took a lot of famous pictures in Vietnam,” according to Lopez. Denoncourt “was looking for a place to place this monument,” said Lopez, “and, about a couple years ago, he worked with the [Manchester] Parks and Recreation […] and paid a hundred thousand dollars for it.” Though Denoncourt “lives down in Seabrook,” Lopez said he specifically chose Manchester as a home for the monument and donated an endowment for its continued maintenance.
During his time in Vietnam as a combat photographer all Lopez’s photographs went through military channels who decided which photos to publish and which ones to refrain from publishing, he said.
“The pictures that we took] were given to the chain and ended up at the Department of Defense and they decided what photos to release,” he said. “Some photos were done for newspapers [like] Stars and Stripes for example—maybe someone eating in the chow line or giving their food to a refugee kid or something. You kind of always try to capture that [type of thing],” Lopez said. “Then you got the ceremonial, generals come down and pin Purple Hearts on people at the hospital and stuff like that.” In any case, it was “all work,” said Lopez. He would photograph “whatever they need,” he said with a chuckle.
Camille Craffey, a Realtor and retired U.S. Marine, was handing out pins to attendees in their choice of either round or heart shaped U.S. flags “I’m happy you took a heart-shaped one,” she said, “because I haven’t had many takers yet.”
She says she got into real estate “because of my negative experience trying to use my VA loan.” The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers loans to help veterans buy homes, but as NPR reported on Nov. 11., many veterans end up in “botched home loan programs.”
“There was not a lot of education by my agent,” said Craffey, “and it ended up costing me a lot of money.” She said this was particularly hard because “veterans don’t have a lot of cash.” She says her goal in handing out the pins is to bring people together. “You know, united we stand, divided we fall,” said Craffey, with a laugh. “Hell of a theory, right?”
After the chaplain’s closing prayer, Jim Adams closed the ceremony by quoting a line from General Douglas MacArthur’s 1962 Farewell Speech to West Point cadets, which reads in full: “The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war”.
Nick Johnson is a senior English major at UNH Durham. He attended Manchester Memorial High School, where he played drums in the jazz band and was on the tennis team. Nick plays in a local rock band and recently began work giving drum set lessons part time. He can be reached at Nick.M.Johnson@unh.edu.
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