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 […]
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 […]
Mr. William Bellmore of 10 Monterey Dr., Methuen, celebrated his 101st birthday last month. He was honored for his service in WWII as a Chief Machinist Mate (1943-1944) by Methuen Mayor Steve Zanni and Veteran’s Services Director Hargraves as well as his family and veteran friends. Bellmore was a Chief Machinist Mate, served as […]
Last month, the City of Lawrence and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recognized the heroism of World War II veteran and former Lawrence native, Thomas A. Sullivan of the Army’s 338th infantry regiment in 85 Custer Division. Sullivan was drafted on October 29, 1943, went into training on November 19, 1943, and was shipped to Italy […]
NORTH ANDOVER – Last month The Valley Patriot went along with Gerard Maguire, the Veteran’s Services Coordinator for the towns of North Andover and Boxford as he delivered a custom fitted, electric wheelchair for a WWII hero veteran who lost his arm in battle and now is unable to walk. Richard Lussier fought against the […]
NORTH ANDOVER – Merrimack College awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree to Methuen resident Harold Paragamian on June 2. Mr. Paragamian, 90, took occasional classes at Merrimack between 1969 and 1998, earning an Associate’s degree along the way. A recent audit of his courses determined he is eligible for a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal […]
By: Sid Smith – August, 2015 When is the last time you heard anything encouraging from the race relations standpoint? Never? Well, here is one, and I would be willing to venture that less than one American in over ten thousand has ever heard of it. The story involves Mississippi and Massachusetts. So … how […]
READ PART I HERE READ PART II HERE By: Sid Smith – July, 2015 Before each individual squadron takeoff, it required the efforts of thousands of people involved in intelligence, target selections, weather info including not just surface conditions, but winds aloft at varying altitudes as well as icing conditions, target routes, ordinance required with […]
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: 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 […]
By: Helen Mooradkanian – June, 2014 Dr. Richard Mooradkanian, U.S. Army, 1953-1955, was my trusted military advisor who critiqued each “Hero of the Month” column I wrote before I sent it to press. For the past two-and-a-half years, his wisdom, counsel, and insight guided me in my columns for “The Valley Patriot.” When Richard passed […]
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 […]
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, […]