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, […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: Helen Mooradkanian – June, 2013 In that assault landing on Morotai, 45 LSTs (landing ship, tank) lined the shore. Offshore coral reefs and boulders caught landing craft. Troops, vehicles, and supplies were unloaded onto the beach—with no opposition from the 500 or more Japanese caught there by surprise. But […]
By: Helen Mooradkanian – May 2013 In this Memorial Day issue, we honor a local WWII veteran who survived the brutality of the Japanese POW camps and the “Hell Ships.” Although he passed away February 3, 2013, shortly before his 93rd birthday, his story of courage and endurance lives on. *** Sergeant Victor Cote, […]
By Helen Mooradkanian – April 2013 The “island hopping” strategy in the Pacific had proved successful as the Marines secured one island after another in their advance toward the Japanese mainland: Roi and Namur in the Marshall Islands (February 1944), Los Negros (March 1944), Wake Island (May 1944), Saipan and Guam (July 1944), and Tinian […]
HERO IN OUR MIDST By: Helen Mooradkanian – October, 2012 One month before his 21st birthday, lst Lieutenant Angelo Giambusso, U.S. Army Air Force, North Andover, Mass., had flown five extremely hazardous combat missions—into Hitler’s oil fields in Ploesti, Romania—plus another 40 strategic bombing attacks in 10 countries across Europe. Yet nothing compared to the […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: Helen Mooradkanian – September, 2012 Corporal Philip Cote, U.S. Army Air Force—who will celebrate his 96th birthday on October 31—was an eyewitness to history on Tinian Island in the Pacific during World War II. Raised in a log cabin in Tewksbury, Mass., and now living in Dracut, he witnessed two […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: Helen Mooradkanian – August, 2012 On March 3, 1945, in Italy’s northern Apennines, storm clouds gathered as Private Samuel L. Blumenfeld, now of Littleton, Mass., first entered combat in WWII with the 10th Mountain Division, Field Artillery Battalion. For one born and raised in New York City, mountain […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH READ PART I By: Helen Mooradkanian – October, 2011 Last month we described the miraculous escape of downed airman, John Katsaros, USAAF, of Haverhill, whose life was saved during WWII by the French Resistance. Smuggled out of Nazi-occupied France in a 3-month, 3,000-mile escape, he gathered strategic intelligence used […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: Helen Mooradkanian – September, 2011 Out of the darkness, engines roaring, hundreds of American B-17 Flying Fortresses took off March 20, 1944, in World War II, from Deenethorpe, England. Destination: Frankfurt. Mission: destroy production of dreaded Luftwaffe FW-190 fighter planes. At 30,000 feet, under heavily overcast skies and […]
The North Andover Republican Town Committee held their annual Spring Fling last month and as they do each year the committee honored some of our local veterans in town. Selectmen Rosemary Smedile and Dan Lanen presided over the honors and presented each veteran with a certificate of appreciation. Here are the four heroes they […]
HEROES IN OUR MIDST – GOLD STAR MOTHERS Valley Patriot Staff – October, 2010 Our Valley Patriot of the Month is usually dedicated to a man or woman who fought in war to defend the United States. This column usually names a brave soldier and provides his or her story of his experience in […]
VALLEY PATRIOT OF THE MONTH By: Gary Mannion – September, 2010 LOWELL – Greg Page sat on his couch waiting to leave for Newark International Airport to catch his plane to San Francisco; he was about to embark on his senior year at Stanford University. Whatever it was that seemed important to him as […]
Hero In Our Midst: USAF, 439th Security Forces Squadron, Westover ARB By: Kate Cotnoir – May, 2010 LOWELL – Technical Sergeant Boulette was born in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was raised in the town of Billerica, Massachusetts, where he attended Billerica Memorial High School, graduating in 1995. Boulette entered the Marine Corps on 12 June […]
Hero In Our Midst By: Gary Manion – April, 2010 In August of 1942, Dominic Scarpignato did what most boys his age were doing; he enlisted in the Navy. Almost a year after Pearl Harbor, boys like Dominic flocked to serve their country without a second thought. At 19 years of age, Dominic left […]
Hero in Our Midst, Sgt. Dan Cotnoir, U.S. Marines Ordnance Maintenance Company, 4th Maintenance Battalion, Devens, MA By: Tom Duggan In 2005, Sergeant Daniel Cotnoir of Lawrence was named Marine of the Year by the Marine Corps Times for his outstanding bravery and service to the United States. Sgt. Dan Cotnoir began his military […]