D-Day 1944

Bravery is not acting in the absence of fear.

Bravery is acting in the presence of fear.

June 6th fell on a Tuesday in 1944.

And in England, beginning on Sunday night, thousands of indescribably brave young men crowded onto flat bottomed wooden boats and waited until the order was given for them to begin the hundred mile voyage to the coast of France.

During the long, slow, arduous journey across choppy seas those kids froze from the chilled water and ocean air splashing over them . . . and at the same time they sweat with fear and felt and heard their hearts pounding out of their chests the closer they got to the beaches. The pungent smell of the diesel fumes and the outlandish groaning of the engines helped to drown out other things. It was surreal.

And then . . . mercifully and without mercy . . . the ramps gave way to the waters edge.

They acted anyway.

Somehow, no other day on the calendar seems to remind us of World War II as much as D-Day does.

405,399 brave young Americans left shattered bodies oceans away to free enslaved continents from the grip of tyranny and darkness.

Counted among the fallen were 149 brave young men from Waltham.

As you read their names, please remember that they were the
kids that we see today on School Street, and on Lake Street,
and on Hall Street, and on Main Street, and on Prentice Street
and along Moody Street.

Remember that each of these kids had a unique voice and
a hair color and a talent and a fault and a wit and a way
of walking and a family left with a deep hole made by their
passing.

During an interview for the finale of the highly acclaimed
series 'Band of Brothers', based upon the Stephen Ambrose
book of the same title, the leader of that band of brothers,
Dick Winters, spoke of a grandchild who asked, "Grandpa,
were you a hero in the war?". His reply, softly spoken and
through misty eyes, remembering his lost comrades,
"No . . . but I served in a company of heroes".

These boys from Waltham left home for the last time never
to see another ball game or to open a Christmas gift or to
blow out birthday candles or to see their children grow. They
met the tides of history and of circumstance with courage,
devotion and selfless determination.

Remember them and pray for them. Pray also for their beloved
families who paid a terrible price in handing their souls over to
eternity and pray that the cause for which they gave their lives
will never be forsaken.

If your child ever needs to write a report about a genuine
American hero, these are their names:

World War II Waltham Casualty List

Guido J. Abruzzi
Glen F. Allen
Louis J. Annunciata, Jr.
Raymond J. Arsenault
Walter L. Baldwin
Robert D. Balter
Elmer J. Barden
Francis A. Barnicle
Samuel J. Barron
Anselm L. Belliveau
Richard K. Bills
Leo J. Biron
Edward H. Black
John J. Bononi
Leo A. Boucher
William B. Boulton
Gordon E. Bouret
Gerald C. Breen
Hollis E. Brodrick
John S. Callahan
Charles J. Carney
Armand J. Casale
Henry L. Castagnetti
Robert L. Coleman
Robert E. Collins
Thomas F. Connors
George E. Conant
Frederick Cormier
Joseph P. Coughlan
James P. Cronin
John P. Crossland
Daniel F. Cushing
John DeMatteo
Americo D'Orazio
Ronald B. Dorrington
J. Clarence Doucette
Frederick J. Dowcett, Jr.
William R. Duane
John M. Duffy, Jr.
Harold C. Durkin
Robert W. Elder
S. Barton Eldridge
Richard L. Felt
Alfonse J. Ferrera
Michael Ford
William J. Forte
Paul H. Frechette
Harry Freedman
John F. Furdon
Charles R. Gallagher
John B. Gordon
Vaughn P. Grant
Merrill Grapes
Raymond F. Hadley, Jr.
Thomas R. Halleran
Roy D. Halloran
James T. Harron
James F. Hart
Raymond F. Healion
Richard K. Henry, Jr.
Glenn C. Hepler
George E. Higgins, Jr.
William R. Hitchcock
William G. Houghton
Herbert F. Ingersoll
Bernard Jacobs
Benjamin F. Jakubik
Edwin E. Johnson
Francis J. Joyce, Jr.
Samuel Kaitz
Phillip F. Keefe
Henry J. Kelly, Jr.
Donald K. Kenneson
Robert A. Klug
Francis H. Kneeland
Philip A. Lanzo
George H. Large
Edward F. LaRosee
Arthur J. Lazazzero
William LeClair
William H. Leonard
Walter Luke
Robert A. Lyons
Joseph T. McCarthy
Charles E. McCullough
George E. McDonald
Earl A. MacDougall
Elmer J. McFarland
Warren I. MacRae
Joseph A. Madden
Joseph P. Maguire
John J. Mahoney, Jr.
Vincenzo Mandile
Robert C. Mansur
John F. Maroney, Jr.
Leonard M. Melanson
Harold A. Meyer, Jr.
John J. Minahane
Donald M. Morrison
John W. Murphy
Joseph T. Murphy
Lawrence J. Murphy
Thomas E. Murphy
Romeo A. Natoli
Thomas P. Noone
Sunda Palumbo
Lester F. Patterson
John P. Peirce, Jr.
Francis P. Pendergast
Edgar H. Peterson
Salvatore Picone
Francis J. Powers
Warren B. Pratt
George S. Purdy
Robert A. Qualters
Lawrence K. Reade
Edward J. Recka
Jerome Rizzo
Rosario Rizzo
Norman D. Robinson
Lawrence L. Rogers
John F. Ryan
Frank Savino
David E. Scott
Homer Sewall, Jr.
Arthur F. Shaughnessy
Raymond P. Shaughnessy
Harry E. Shubley, Jr.
Ernest Seigel
Robert A. Sloper
Chadborn Smith
Andrew Stanton
William A. Stanton
Edward C. Stearns, Jr.
Maxwell D. Stone
Christopher P. Straggas
James J. Sullivan, Jr.
Fred B. Sweetland
Domenic G. Tambascia
Edmund J. Thibeault
Lloyd W. Wade
Henry F. Walazek
Harold G. Walley
Leslie D. Walsh
John H. Watson
Roger R. Wellington
Charles E. Yeo
Kermit W. Youngquist
Bernard A. Zacame, Jr.

May their memories be eternal.