Last Saturday, January 19th, Compass on the Bay hosted a beautiful and very special ceremony for Veterans at the Memory Support Assisted Living Community. Residents, associates and families gathered with members of the Thomas J. Fitzgerald Post #561 to share experiences and recognize veterans for their brave service to our country.
This upbeat and yet emotional ceremony began with the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance and a Moment of Silence and later ‘Taps’ was played in memory of those resident veterans, who have passed away: Harry Hayes, Thomas Gaffney and Thomas Callahan, all of whom served in the United States Army.
The Master of Ceremonies was Merydith Tuit, who is the Senior Vice Commander of the William E. Carter American Legion Post #16 in Mattapan. The Fitzgerald Post gave each of the veterans US Hand Flags and a hat that corresponds with the branch of the service in which they served. The flags were enthusiastically waved by the Veterans when the hymns from their branches of service were being played. The branches that were represented by the resident veterans were the United States Army, United States Navy, The United States Air Force and the United States Coast Guard.
Congressman Stephen Lynch presented each veteran with American Flags that were smartly displayed in their traditional cases as well as citations and money clips. Citations were also given from Senator Nick Collins and Representative David Biele at the state level and Councilors Michael Flaherty and Edward Flynn (US Navy Ret.) from the city level of government. Deputy Commissioner Robert Santiago (US Navy Ret.) gave citations and the famous Challenge Coins.
This was indeed an impressive gathering of deserving veterans; American heroes all. Every veteran mentioned above deserves very special praise and the gratitude of all Americans for their dedication to their country and the roll they played in defense of America’s freedom.
The wonderful staff at Compass on the Bay deserves kudos for their kindness, thoughtfulness, care and the respect they give to the veterans who have served this great county. And we at South Boston Today thank them for allowing us to join them in recognizing and remembering our Veterans.
Compass on the Bay opened in 1994 and is Boston’s only 100% Memory Supported Assisted Living Community serving those with varying levels of memory loss including mild cognitive impairment (early memory loss) and diagnosed Alzheimer ’s disease. The community is managed by Senior Living Residences (SLR) of Braintree, MA. Learn more at www.compassonthebay.com
