Legion Officials Wary of Planned Route 44 Roadwork-Write Letter to Editor

November 14, 1991
State highway and environmental officials recently conducted a meeting for town officials

and citizens regarding planned Route 44 roadway work. The proposal by the state would involve

a double barreled highway from Raynham to Plymouth......

.....Project manager Abdul Turay said it could be 18 months to two years before environmental

impact studies were completed.

...... Among the residents attending the meeting were several Simeon L. Nickerson Post 64

American Legion members. They expressed their concern over the planned highway’s possible

impact on the Middleborough American Legion Memorial Circle.

......In a letter to the Editor of the Middleboro Gazette printed November 14, 1991, concerns

were levied over the project.

.......The letter states: “On April 9, 1962, Governor John Volpe signed an act dedicating a

number of bridges in the town of Middleboro as memorials to fallen veterans. In the same

document the rotary was as the American Legion Memorial Circle.

......Soon after a flag pole was erected and the circle officially dedicated as a state

memorial to veterans of all the wars, who have paid the supreme price for their country and

freedom. The freedom to travel and vote was preserved to a great extent by these fallen heroes.

.......The Middleboro American Legion Memorial Circle is maintained by the state and the flag

pole is maintained by Post 64 of the American Legion in Middleboro. The flags flying over the

Memorial Circle are “casket flags” that were used to drape the caskets of veterans who have

died after serving the nation honorably.

......The flags are flown over the “Memorial Circle” for a minimum of 30 days in tribute to an

in memory of the service of these fallen veterans.

......Now there is a great hue and cry about the traffic at the “Memorial Circle” and a

solution needs to be found, as well one must be.

......However, in as much as the “American Legion Memorial Circle” is a dedicated and

maintained memorial to the men and women of this town, state and nation, any solution to the

problem may go over, under or around this memorial but must never-ever be allowed to go

through it. Signed: -

...... John T.Gilfoy, President Memorial Association......Clifford E. Hall, Commander

...............................Simeon L. Nickerson Post 64…................................
............................ American Legion, Middleboro, MA…………….

.............................(Posted by Historian Bob Lessard 2014)