.............Middleboro’s High School Sachems football season opened on Friday evening, September 8th, against the visiting Apponequet Lakers at Battis Field. Prior to the game, a special coin toss to recognize three individuals, was held at mid field with both teams’ Captains taking part.
.......Observing the event, while the referee tossed the coin, were these three men: Middleboro Police Chief Joseph Perkin; WW2 veteran Russ Pittsley, 97, who is thought to be the oldest active member of an Honor Guard firing squad in the nation; and, Walter Campbell, Jr., a career United States Navy veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, who played for the Sachems football team in 1946.
.......The Middleboro Veterans Honor Guard participated in a pre-game observance in association with a four man contingent of flag bearers from the Massachusetts National Guard.
.......The football fans saw Walter Campbell, Jr., raise the American Flag, while Paul Provencher played the bugle to the “Call of Colors.” A firing squad detail then fired a 21 rifle salute, led by squad leader Wayne Packard.
.....The Honor Guard members, who took part in the ceremony, were all members of Middleboro’s Simeon L. Nickerson Post 64 American Legion. They were Russ Pittsley, Walter Campbell, Jr., Wayne Packard, Bob Lessard, Paul Provencher, Norman Record, Walter Eliott, Brian Reynolds, Bill Oliver, Richard Washburn and Al Edwards.
(Photos & posting by Bob Lessard, Post 64 Historian.)
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