Health & Fitness
Needham War Memorial Committee Honors The Fallen Brave
This week Louise Miller, a member of the Needham War Memorial Committee, will be our guest blogger to explain the importance of erecting a monument to Needham's Fallen Brave on Memorial Day, 2014.
The Needham War Memorial Committee is a volunteer group that seeks to erect a permanent monument (“Needham’s Fallen Brave”) recognizing the 97 brave Needham citizens who valiantly lost their lives in service to our country from the Revolutionary War to the present. We are a young nation compared to the rest of the globe, but we stand proud of our unparalleled rights to free speech, religious expression, democratic vote and economic opportunity. These rights, which often we take for granted, were hard-fought. In preserving their names in granite, we choose not to forget those who waged this fight and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Following is a vignette describing the bravery of one such young man.
Private First Class David Borrelli was one of six brothers to serve in World War II. He was assigned to the Army’s 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, nicknamed the “Blue and Gray” because its soldiers came from states on both sides of theMason-Dixon Line. The Division is best known for being one of the first troops ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Borrelli was in A Company, the first to invade the Normandy coastline. Of the 200 men in this Company, 182 were killed or wounded. David was one of the less than 20 who continued into Normandy. He died in battle in France on July 11, just 5-weeks after D-Day. He was 21.
It is right and proper that we recognize those from our community who paid the ultimate sacrifice to make America what it is today. The War Memorial Committee has sent a letter to every Needham residence asking for a contribution to this respectful and permanent monument honoring Needham’s 97 Fallen Brave. www.NeedhamHonor.com
