By: John Cuddy – November, 2019 Haverhill’s Gerard Boucher joined the US Marine Corp to avoid getting drafted by the US Army. On the wall of his home sits a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts, so he certainly picked an unusual way to avoid the draft. Talking to Gerard and his close friend Carolyn […]
By: John Cuddy – Feb. 2019 Haverhill’s Anthony J “Tony” Zukas lived at Haverhill Crossing on Amesbury Road near Northern Essex Community College when I interviewed him. The students at Northern Essex Community College, and all of us really, can learn much from this World War II Veteran. Originally, from Scranton, Pennsylvania, he was the […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: John Cuddy – September 2018 The Silent Service Middleton’s Douglas Bryant originally hailed from Amesbury, Massachusetts where his father worked in the automotive industry. Prior to World War II, Amesbury had a bustling automobile industry, but manufacturers such as the Walker Body Company did not survive the Great Depression. […]
By John Cuddy – April, 2018 Meeting this American Hero at Mary Ann’s Diner in Derry, NH on a Saturday morning, I was amazed at how quickly and confidently he used his smartphone. While eating, he showed me lots of information about his World War II unit and its planes, moving rapidly from one screen […]
By: Tom Duggan – Nov, 2017 Normally this space is reserved for paying tribute to living veterans who have gone off and served our country and then come back to help other veterans. Last month, however, when the Valley Patriot learned a member of the Valley Patriot family, Ray Wilson had passed away, we also […]
By: Beth D’Amato – December, 2016 HAVERHILL, MA – On any given day, you will find Randy Carter of the Veterans Northeast Outreach Center (VNOC) out buying groceries for local veterans, counseling a newly discharged vet about health care, or meeting with local politicians to try and get more resources dedicated to helping local veterans […]
The Valley Patriot confirmed Saturday, that North Andover Police Lt. Dan Lanen, is seeking to return to the board of selectmen in this Spring’s town elections. Lanen, a hero police officer who has been named police officer of the year by the Lawrence Exchange Club, and received the Officer Tom Duggan, Hero Police Officer award […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH This month, The Valley Patriot honors and recognizes Lowell resident John MacDonald not just for his service to the country as a military veteran, but also because of his tremendous work helping our veterans here at home. John MacDonald enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1989 and was […]
Outstanding Contributions to EMS Award Offered by NorthEast Emergency Medical Services, Inc. Chief Kenneth E. Berkenbush is proud to announce that a member of the Amesbury Fire Rescue Department has been honored for his work in the field of emergency medical services. “In all of my years as a member of a fire rescue department, […]
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” […]
The Valley Patriot newspaper has unveiled the nominees for the 2015 Valley Patriot Awards. Each Year the Valley Patriot gives awards at the annual BASH to members of the community and members of The Valley Patriot family. The winners will be announced on March 20th at the Firefighter’s Relief In (Get Tickets HERE) VALLEY PATRIOT […]
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 […]
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, […]
By: Helen Mooradkanian – August, 2013 Nineteen-year old Corporal William T. Poulios, of Chelmsford, 87th Infantry Division, 347th Regiment, swept across France, Belgium, Luxembourg, central Germany, to Czechoslovakia—in 154 days of combat! From December 6, 1944, to May 8, 1945 (when Germany unconditionally surrendered), the 87th drove relentlessly from Metz, France, to Plauen on the […]