About 100 people turned out yesterday for the Westwood Veterans Day ceremony, a brief event that included a moment of silence, a gun salute to the dead by the American Legion Honor Guard, and the traditional playing of taps.
"Today is an important day for all veterans," Legion adjutant Dick Paster said after the 15-minute ceremony. "We remember everybody who served, living and dead."
The ceremony, emceed by Veterans' Services Agent James Sullivan, was held against the backdrop of a large veterans memorial that was relocated in October 2006 from Bicentennial Park on Lakeshore Drive.
It was the third Veterans Day ceremony held at Westwood Veterans' Park by American Legion Post 320, which has celebrated the holiday since 1968. The park stands at the corner of High and Pond streets between Westwood's old and new cemeteries. About 700 veterans' graves lie in the cemeteries, some dating back to the Revolutionary War.
Paster and Sullivan said they want the town to provide funding to finish the new park - and selectmen Chairman Patrick Ahearn said he, too, wants to see the park completed.
"I agree with them, and I think you'll hear something more about it in the months ahead," Ahearn said afterwards, indicating that he would have more to say "as the budget process moves forward."
Ahearn said the town initially funded $25,000 to get the park off the ground. After about half of that amount was spent, the town refilled the park fund so it again stood at $25,000, he said.
The town budget and "alternative funding sources" will be considered for the park in the coming months, said Ahearn, who also attended yesterday's ceremony.
The park currently has a flagpole, a small granite marker to one side that lists the names of those who died serving the country, and the memorial, which honors "all Westwood veterans of America's wars and skirmishes" and remembers their "courage, pride and dedicated service."
The park is "pretty rough at this point," Sullivan remarked yesterday.
The past commander of the Westwood Legion said he wants to properly grade the park land, add granite benches and stone walls, and build a brick "Veterans Walk of Remembrance" that will go from the memorial to the flagpole. Finishing the park could cost "a couple hundred thousand dollars," he estimated.
Sullivan plans to raise money for the park by selling $100 commemorative bricks for the Walk of Remembrance. Each brick will include a veteran's name, his military branch, war and years of service. Sullivan said brick application forms are available at the Veterans' Services Department in Town Hall.
Among the veterans who attended yesterday ceremony was Allen Baker, who served as a radio man in the Navy in the South Pacific during World War II.
"It was a good ceremony, and it was good to see so many young people here," he said, alluding to the dozen or so Westwood Cub Scouts who took part.
Nancy Paster said she was glad to see the Cub Scouts - but worried about a broader disconnect between young people today and military veterans.
"They hear about the war, but I just don't think they understand," she said. "You have to know your history, and you have to respect your history, and I don't think enough of that is happening."
Legion Commander Jim Monaghan, 44, had multiple generations on his mind yesterday. Monaghan, who served in the Army in the Gulf War, Somalia and Haiti, said he looks up to World War II veterans.
"They're the people who really saved the world," he said.
Monaghan said the Legion has a couple of new members who served in Iraq, but he would like more to join.
"We need more of the younger people to keep it going," he said.
Daily News staff writer Edward B. Colby can be reached at 781-433-8336 or ecolby@cnc.com.
