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Remembering a fallen serviceman in West Roxbury
By adamg on Wed, 09/23/2020 - 11:01am
Mary Ellen reports that this morning, she saw a man who saluted a memorial sign at Baker Street and VFW Parkway, then stood at ease for several minutes looking up at it.
The sign memorializes Paul Reid of West Roxbury, a Marine lance corporal who died in Quang Nam Province in South Vietnam on Nov. 6, 1967 - less than two months after he arrived there, and five days before his 19th birthday.
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Comments
Always Remember
Semper Fidelis
Lost 5 days before turning 19.
The burden of such loss should not be forgotten.
every street and square
It would be awesome if every steet or square that is named after someone, had a sign giving details about the person.
Natick
This has been done in Natick, perhaps some enterprising person could do the same in Boston?
https://natickmemorialsquares.wordpress.com/
Directory and map?
Certainly a great youth service project to map and get some information about where these are and who these people were. It would be great to be able to tour a community for Veterans Day or Memorial Day and get to know what this is all about.
After an earlier thread, I suggested it to a scoutmaster friend. He told me that he knows the scoutmaster in Natick who oversaw the linked Eagle project by Ben Jennings, and he said he'd suggested it generally for the council. Just have to find the right scout to take it on.
Nice!
Hopefully there will be someone or someones willing to do so.
Boston is working on it
Mind you, it is a very slow project. You can see more here. Let's just ignore that they say they are putting up "plagues" and be happy that some plaques are going up.
not just vets
I know a lot of squares are named for veterans, and I'm good with that, especially if they and their families were a large presence in that area. But we also have streets like Melnea Cass which, despite its current infamy, are named after someone who deserves the recognition.
Who was Boylston?
Who was Newbury?
Who was Washington? (j/k)
Who was Maywood (small street in Roxbury)
And so on
What a loser
I've heard those killed fighting for American democracy are losers. Winners are those who figure out how to dodge the draft and show proper respect for dictators. /S
Gotta wonder if Paul Reid would have given his life if he knew the sorts of people who now control the federal government. I wonder if his parents are still alive. (And if so, have they been able to avoid COVID-19.)
Yes he would.
You are taught in basic to obey your superiors. No one like their boss but doesn’t mean you don’t do your job
Reid Family
The Reids are a large and well liked multi-generational West Roxbury family of long standing.
Next time your in Hull
Look up a few of these signs. All WW2 vintage, all old, and virtually all Jewish surnames. Apparently there was a huge Jewish community in Hull at the time, and many of its sons never returned. A significant portion of a neighborhoods generation of young men, who all probably knew each other and died all over the world.
It's kind of eerie, and awe inspiring.
Paul Curran, ww2 market, sparhawk, arlington streets brighton
i never met paul but his mother used to give me butterscotch candies when i was a little guy. i didnt realize she had lost a son in the war until she was long gone and i was older. he died in Adak Alaska. i always think of him when i pass St. Cols.
That's not at ease, that's
That's not at ease, that's parade rest.
Never forget.
Never forget.
https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?id=294325
I remember this very well. I
I remember this very well. I was a 9 yr old in the same grade as his brother at St. Theresa's at the time. The whole "town" came came out for the funeral and it seemed like the biggest deal to ever hit WR. The outpouring of grief was something I had never seen or felt. Vietnam was just a news blurb on TV every night at dinnertime before then. The reality of it was a lot more tangible afterwards.
It was a demarcation line in my life; the first time the real world intruded on the blissful ignorance of my childhood. It certainly colored my view of the war. Two years later at some Boy Scout function, a higher-up BS leader asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I told him I want to be in the SDS.
Is that you?
Joe. A. Is that you paying tribute to a fallen brother?