Memorial Day observance to honor North Andover's World War II veterans

April 16--NORTH ANDOVER -- Nearly 1,000 men and women from North Andover served in World War II.

Thirty-one men did not come back.

This year's Memorial Day observance will honor the town's World War II veterans. They will be welcomed to the ceremony as special guests, according to Ted Tripp, chairman of the Patriotic Observance Committee.

The Memorial Day parade will step off from the Old Center Common at 10 a.m.May 26 and march to Ridgewood Cemetery on Salem Street, where the ceremony will take place.

John Gilboard, a World War II Navy veteran and past commander of the Jewish War Veterans, will read the names of the 31 local men who lost their lives during the conflict. Gilboard, a Lawrence native, served on a destroyer, the USS Norris, in the Pacific.

He headed the Columbia Paper Co. in Lawrence until he retired in 2004. Gilboard has lived in North Andover since 1977.

A much younger group of veterans will also be honored. Local residents who have recently completed military service will be presented with welcome home certificates, according to Veterans Services Director Ed Mitchell, who will act as master of ceremonies.

The Patriotic Observance Committee is looking for a main speaker for the ceremony. Ross McQuate, a North Andover High School senior and an Eagle Scout, will read excerpts from the speech President Reagan gave on Memorial Day in 1982 at Arlington National Cemetery.

"Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply," Reagan said in his tribute to those who "love their countrymen enough to die for them."

Last year's Memorial Day ceremony was dedicated to Cpl. Sean Gallagher, who was among the 220 U.S. Marines who were killed when a terrorist drove a truck loaded with explosives into their barracks at Beirut International Airport on Oct. 23, 1983. Gallagher Field on Salem Street is named in his honor.

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