Community Corner

Danvers Veterans Memorial Fields Dedication a 'Long Time Coming'

Local veterans say it was all thanks to generous contributions of time and money from many individuals.

A large crowd of Danvers residents, veterans, scouts and town officials gathered at the Thorpe School Monday morning for the town's annual Veterans Day ceremony.

Normally, the salute to the town's veterans is at the senior center, but the change in location was because there was a new monument to dedicate out on the school's playing fields.

The soccer and lacrosse fields adjacent to the elementary school on Avon Road were named the Danvers Veterans Memorial Fields back in 2010 as the first step in the project.

Danvers Veterans Council President Bruce Eaton said requests went before the Recreation Committee, School Committee and the Board of Selectmen for approval of different aspects of the project, and all that proved to be relatively easy compared to finding the actual stone and having a plaque made for the new monument.

"The dedication has been a long time coming," he said.

Eaton credited local architect and Danvers Rotarian Robert Farley as the "spark plug" for getting that second half done.

Farley explained Monday that the Rotary, which is in its 90th year in Danvers, was looking for a new community project and particularly to honor local veterans, so Farley met with the town veterans agent Peter Mirandi early last year to chat.

Mirandi told him it was good timing because the Veterans Council wanted to install a permanent sign to let everyone know the fields were named for veterans. Farley then talked it over with Eaton and drew up a plan.

Instead of just a sign -- one was erected at the opposite end of the fields from the monument this past spring -- Farley envisioned a granite stone with a bronze plaque. The difficult part was finding the right size and shape stone. The one bearing the plaque now weighs about 2-1/2 tons.

Farley said he scoured the woods fields around town for five months without luck, but then while at an event at the Danversport Yacht Club, he was chatting with owner Joseph DeLorenzo and explained the veterans project and his quest for a stone.

Delorenzo said he had plenty of stones around the property they could have for the project. Eventually, Farley and Eaton found one behind the old Williams School building in the middle of a stone wall.

Farley said they asked if they could take it, to which Delorenzo replied, "absolutely not." It was apparently holding up the entire wall and there was an electrical system right behind it. But he then pointed out another large rock on the property that might work instead.

Finally, after determining that stone was suitable, Farley contacted J. Masterson Construction about hauling it away. They agreed to transport the 2-1/2 ton stone and set it in its new home for free.

After cleaning up the stone, it was trucked over to the school fields and placed in the corner close to the parking lot and playground in October. At this point, they were still waiting on the bronze plaque, which was being made at a foundry in Pittsburgh.

Farley said it wasn't until last Monday that he received a call from the company that the plaque was ready...except it was bent and couldn't be fastened to anything. The man told Farley he would call him back. After learning of the predicament, the company president pledged to have a new plaque made and shipped up to Danvers within 48 hours, said Farley.

On Wednesday, the plaque arrived and was finally affixed to the face of the stone on Saturday. Thanking everyone involved in the project, Farley remarked, "It came right down the wire."

"It was a little hair-raising toward the end," Eaton said, smiling, as he took the microphone back. He explained that the entire project was completed due to generous donations of time and money from various individuals.

"The net cost to the town is a big fat zero," he said.

Eaton thanked the Rotary Club of Danvers, Farley, DeLorenzo, the McKenzie Group, Jeffrey and John Masterson, Chris Costello of Timberline Enterprises, Inc, Bruce Lane of Mount Pleasant Memorials, Kenneth Bouffard of Civil Environmental Consultants, LLC, the Danvers Youth Lacrosse League and the Danvers Youth Soccer League.

To conclude the Veterans Day ceremony on Monday, everyone filed outside to the new monument for the benediction and dedication, accompanied by a another gun salute from the Danvers Alarm List.

Many of the people in attendance then placed small flags on a memorial wreath in honor of living or departed veterans.

The plaque reads:

DANVERS VETERANS MEMORIAL FIELDS
REMEMBERING THOSE WHO SELFLESSLY
SERVED OUR COUNTRY
DEDICATED APRIL 25, 2010


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