By: Sidney Smith- June, 2015 READ PART I HERE A young kid of 19 years old, like so many of the young guys my mother and I had met, was being assigned to the 8th AF and sent to England; a kid named Larry from Easton, Maine. His orders had to have read something […]
By: John Lenotte – May, 2015 Memorial Day is again approaching. That time for the unofficial beginning of Summer. And after this last Winter, we are all looking forward to sun and warm weather. As I do every year, I will ask you to take a few minutes to think about those who made sacrifices […]
By: Sidney Smith – May, 2015 When I recently learned that the local chapter of the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) was bringing an original flying Boeing B-17 WWII bomber to Lawrence Airport this May 22nd to May 25th, I was reminded of an acquaintance I had formed with a friend in West Newbury: Lawrence “Larry” […]
By: Jen Jones – December, 2014 The Methuen Exchange Club hosted their 20th Annual Awards Night on November 18th at the Merrimack Valley Golf Club. This is a special event all around as the club presents awards to a few very special people who have displayed incredible acts throughout the community. The awards presented consisted […]
By: Tim Imholt – September, 2-14 I had the pleasure recently of sitting down and talking with Jake Collins, this month’s Patriot of the Month. Mr. Collins served in the Navy during World War II as a Gunner’s Mate aboard the USS AOG-17 named the USS Mettawee. The Mettawee was a gasoline tanker that was […]
By: Gary Mannion – August, 2014 Webster’s dictionary defines a patriot as one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests. The Moran family was such a family; one of the many families, over the years, that has shown its support for its country. Born and raised on Willow St. in […]
Paying Attention is produced by Chris Poublon and airs on 980WCAP in Lowell. Host Tom Duggan. Co-Host Paul Murano. Paul had the day off. In the first hour Tom Duggan interviewed world famous hypnotist Jerry Valley who talked about his movie roles, the benefits of hypnosis and tips for those wishing to undergo hypnosis. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD AUDIO of […]
By: Justess Jacobson – April, 2014 Last month The Valley Patriot awarded Amesbury Police Officer Jason Kooken with The Valley Patriot, Officer Tom Duggan Sr. Law Enforcement Award. Officer Duggan’s granddaughter did the presentation to Officer Kooken. Every year, Jason Kooken bicycle rides his way down to Washington, DC to the National Law Enforcement Memorial […]
By: Helen Mooradkanian – February, 2014 They called it “the Valley of Death”—the dreaded Hiep Duc Valley in Vietnam. The enemy’s stronghold. A major battleground. One where American units were nearly annihilated. Sergeant Dudley H. Farquhar, A Troop, 1/1st Cav, Americal Division (23d Infantry), as a member of Americal’s Reactionary Forces was sent in with […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: Helen Mooradkanian – January, 2014 NORTHANDOVER – “We were the second largest convoy to leave for Europe—5,000 of us aboard the U.S. Army troopship George Washington—when we left New York in early 1944, bound for Liverpool, England. By the time we arrived in England in April, two months before […]
By: Helen Mooradkanian – December, 2013 In the early dawn hours of March 25, 1969, in the rice paddies of South Vietnam, near Bong Son, in the province of Binh Dinh, 22-year old Sergeant Thomas F. Siopes, Company A, 2nd Battalion, 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade (separate), was leading a patrol on a “search and […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By Helen Mooradkanian – November, 2013 At 6:54 a.m. Sunday, December 7, 1941, the quiet midnight watch was about to end for 20-year old Gerald L. Halterman, U.S. Navy, Yeoman 3rd Class. An urgent message came in on the teletype in the communications office at Pearl Harbor, 14th Naval District, […]
By: Helen Mooradkanian – October, 2013 TEWKSBURY – Nineteen-year old George A. Flibotte, U.S. Army Air Corps, now of Tewksbury, was with the Ninth Air Force stationed across the English Channel from Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. As part of the 1925th Ordnance Ammunition Company, he was loading bombs onto convoys of trucks […]
HERO IN OUR MIDST By: Helen Mooradkanian – September 2013 It was January 1, 1945 as the convoy of 556 ships filled the horizon—LSTs, troop ships, aircraft carriers, submarines, destroyers, cruisers, and warships equipped with the largest guns, 16-inch diameter. They were sailing from Dutch New Guinea to Lingayen Gulf on the island of Luzon, […]