At Agawam's Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery, Gov. Deval Patrick said the "spirit of sacrifice" continues.
Memorial Day ceremony at the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Cemetery. This is Mark A. Grodzicki of Southwick visiting the grave of his high school buddy Travis Fuller who was killed in Iraq in 2005. He visits the grave three times a year.
It was a sun-splashed but poignant 2010 Memorial Day on Monday all over the Pioneer Valley, especially in Ludlow, hometown of Marine Sgt. Joshua D. Desforges, who was killed in action in Afghanistan three weeks ago.
“We had a lot more veterans marching with us, a lot of them were friends of Joshua,” said Donald J. Couture, director of veterans services for Ludlow.
Desforges’ family was at the parade, Couture said.
“The previous year has seen too many deaths,” the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield, said at the St. Michael Cemetery Memorial Day Mass.
In Agawam, Gov. Deval L. Patrick led about 300 people in saluting the military’s fallen men and women at the Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery on Main Street.
Patrick said that he has pondered whether the “Baby Boom” generation, which arrived after World War II, measures up in its responsibilities and obligations to the so-called “Greatest Generation,” whose accomplishments included victory in World War II and the rebuilding of Europe afterward.
“I kind of have a personal stake in it,” she said.
The holiday wasn’t all solemnity. Lynn D. Sullivan relished her afternoon in Springfield’s Forest Park after a weekend of errands and chores.
“This is family time for us,” she said. “It’s the perfect day for it.”
Staff writers Sandra E. Constantine, Chris Hamel, Diane Lederman, Ted Laborde, Fred Contrada, and John Appleton contributed to this report.
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