Veterans Day to be honored with events throughout the state
Providence Journal, RI
Nov 8 2004
The Providence VA Medical Center, 830 Chalkstone Ave., Providence,
will conduct its annual Veterans Day program on Wednesday, starting
at 10 a.m., in the fifth-floor auditorium. Keynote speaker will be
Chief Justice Frank J. Williamsof the Rhode Island Supreme Court.
Hosted by Vincent Ng, medical center director, the ceremony will
include a color guard from the Rhode Island National Guard, an ROTC
unit from Cranston High School East performing a flag-folding
ceremony and an ROTC unit from Coventry High School performing a
tribute to missing soldiers. Veterans’ activist David A. Rourke will
present a donation in memory of Cpl. Robert Lee Argenti, killed in
VietNam in 1970, to be used to purchase a new DAV transport van.
Also on Wednesday the Marine Corps League’s Kent County Detachment
will conduct a ceremony open to the public at the State House on
Smith Street in Providence, from 10 a.m. to noon, which will include
the flying of the Marine Corps flag over the State House to honor the
Marine Corps birthday.
Veterans Day events scheduled for Thursday include:
The Bristol Veterans Council Veterans Day Committee will conduct its
annual Veterans Day wreath-laying ceremony in the Honor Roll Garden
in Bristol at 8:30 a.m., followed by an interfaith memorial service,
at 9:30 a.m., at the Rhode Island Veterans Home chapel, 480 Metacom
Ave., Bristol. There will be a brief speaking program featuring Cpt.
James Valente, an active-duty surgeon in the U.S. Navy and a
Middletown native, and a collation in the home’s lobby.
The Coventry Veterans Council invites the public to participate in a
Veterans Day memorial ceremony at 9 a.m. at AMVETS Post 4 on Meeting
Street.
A Veterans Day observance will be held at 9 a.m. in Portsmouth, in
Town Council chambers with a wreath presentation to follow at the
Portsmouth War Memorial at Town Hall.
The West Warwick Veterans Day observance, sponsored by the town’s
Veterans Council, will begin at 9:30 a.m. at Veterans Memorial Park
at Two Legion Way.
Veterans Day parades will be held at 9:30 a.m. from Wilson Park in
Wickford; at 9:30 a.m. starting from South Kingstown High School; and
at 10 a.m. from North Scituate’s Berkander Field. East Greenwich
celebrates Veterans Day with a parade starting at 10 a.m. on Main
Street, which will include Quonset Air Museum’s award-winning 30-foot
model of the aircraft carrier Wasp (CV-18) that will be displayed
following the parade at American Legion Post 15, 1016 Main St., until
3 p.m.
The American-Armenian Veterans Memorial Committee will conduct a 10
a.m. Veterans Day memorial service at the group’s monument (second
one on the left past the administration building) in the Rhode Island
Veterans Cemetery in Exeter.
Quonset Air Museum, 488 Eccleston Ave., Quonset State Airport, North
Kingstown, will hold a Veterans Day open house, from 10 a.m. to 3
p.m., with free admission to observe its large aircraft collection
and artifacts from Rhode Island’s rich aviation history.
U.S. Submarine Veterans — Groton Base will hold its annual Veterans
Day memorial service at 11 a.m., at the World War II Submarine
Veterans Memorial at Bridge and Thames Streets in Groton, Conn. The
Tolling of the Boats ceremony will recognize the loss of 52
submarines and 3,300 men, as well as all those lost on all U.S.
submarines before and after World War II. Master Chief Dean Irwin
will speak.
The Rhode Island Office of Health and Human Services, the Department
of Human Services and the Division of Veterans Affairs will jointly
sponsor a Rhode Island Veterans Day tribute to all its veterans and
current military personnel at the State House rotunda in Providence.
The 2 p.m. ceremony will feature the display of a model of the World
War II Memorial under construction in Memorial Park on South Main
Street in Providence. Joseph Corrente, Memorial Commission project
chairman, and commission members will be present to answer all
inquiries about the memorial. Rhode Island claims 96,000 World War II
veterans. The 2,560 veterans who died during the war will have their
names inscribed on the honor roll memorial wall.
Army retirement seminar to be held in Quonset Leroy Bussells,
assistant director of retirement affairs for the Association of the
United States Army, will discuss retirement issues at a seminar on
Nov. 18 at the Quonset “O” Club in North Kingstown. Bussells will
present information on recent legislation passed by Congress that
affects survivor benefit plans and other regulation changes affecting
retirement planning.
The event, sponsored by the Rhode Island Chapter of the Association
of the United States Army, is free and begins at 6:30 p.m. with
appetizers and a cash bar followed by the speaking program. Attendees
must respond by Nov. 15 to Anthony at (401) 861-2997.
R.I. women veterans to gather for luncheon A luncheon designed to
bring together Rhode Island’s women veterans for camaraderie and to
educate them about their military benefits, will be held on Nov. 20
at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Warwick, starting at 11 a.m. All
services including active duty and retired military women are invited
along with male veterans or veterans’ organizations.
The program will include an appearance by Kim Graves from the Rhode
Island Veterans Affairs Office to address benefit questions. Tickets
cost $20 and will be sold until Nov. 15. Requests should be mailed to
All Service Women’s Lunch c/o Ginny Hanson, 76 Bliss Rd., Newport, RI
02840. For more information, call Maureen Holland at (401) 232-1659.
AMVETS Almeida-Borges Post 37 meets tonight at the Walley School,
High Street, Bristol, at 7 p.m. The Rhode Island Department will meet
Wednesday at Post 33, 140 South Bend St., Pawtucket, at 7 p.m.
Veterans of Foreign Wars and Auxiliary Post 45 assembles this evening
at the Silver Lake Community Center, 524 Plainfield St., Providence,
at 7 p.m. Washington County Post will meet Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., at
155 High St., Wakefield. A District 4 meeting will be held Wednesday
at 7:30 p.m., at Plainfield Community Center, 529 Plainfield St.,
Providence. Auxiliary president Dorothy Irving will visit Smithfield
Memorial Auxiliary 2929 on Saturday at 47 Putnam Pike in Smithfield.
Post 449 will host its annual turkey trot with raffles and prizes on
Saturday at 7 p.m., at the post home on Providence Street in West
Warwick. Tabor Franchi Auxiliary 2396 will host a veterans’
dinner/dance on Saturday, starting at 7:30 p.m., at 170 Randall St.,
Cranston; tickets cost $22.50. Kelley-Gazzerro Post 2812, 1418
Plainfield St., Cranston, will meet on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. Eighth Air
Force Historical Society The Rhode Island chapter will meet tomorrow
at Bickford’s restaurant, Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick, at 11 a.m.,
for Eighth Air Force veterans and friends. American Legion and
Auxiliary Post 18 will gather tomorrow at 7 p.m., at 3064 E. Main
Rd., Portsmouth, and the auxiliary unit will meet Sept. 21 at 7 p.m.
Shields Unit 43 will meet tomorrow at the post home in Warwick at 7
p.m. The 8/40 Unit will gather on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., at
Charlesgate North on North Main Street in Providence. Post 39 will
meet Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., at 1948 Kingstown Rd., Peace Dale. Post
1 will meet Thursday at 1 p.m., at Macera’s Garden Room in Cranston.
Howard-Rogers Auxiliary Unit 25 will meet Thursday at 25 McCallum
Ave., Pawtucket, at 7:30 p.m. Auxiliary Unit 103 will host a Hawaiian
sunset luau on Saturday from 7 p.m. to midnight, at Post 79, 46
Central St., Central Falls. Call Virginia at (401) 727-1524 for
tickets, which are $15. Korean War Veterans Association West Bay
Chapter 2 will hold its monthly meeting on Wednesday at 7:30 pm, at
VFW Post 449, 197 Providence St., West Warwick. Northern Rhode Island
Chapter 3 will meet Wednesday at Terry Lane Post at Pinewood Park in
Chepachet, beginning at 7 p.m. The Reserve Officers Association The
Rhode Island Department will gather at the Harwood Reserve Center,
385 Niagara St., Providence, on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Military
Officers’ Association of America Narragansett Bay Chapter will meet
Friday at Chianti’s restaurant, 195 Forge Rd., East Greenwich,
starting at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $23, and reservations must be made by
today by calling Stan at (401) 783-0455.
The Retired Enlisted Association Narragansett Bay Chapter 79 will
meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday at VFW Post 4487, 52 Underwood Lane,
Middletown. Nominations for officers will be taken at this meeting.
George W. Reilly can be reached at VeteransColumn [at] verizon.net or
by writing to the Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI
02902.