From the front page of The Telegraph, May 31, 1988.
Photo: Participants in Nashua's Memorial Day parade march up Main Street as they honor those who died fighting for their country.
Frederick Todd of Manchester smiled wanly Monday morning as he recalled what makes Memorial Day special to him.
"I was a POW in Germany for seven months," Todd said. He paused and glanced up briefly as raindrops began to fall. "So I get kind of choked up on Memorial Day. I guess it's because of the things I've seen and lived through."
Todd was the feature speaker at Monday's ceremonies in Nashua to honor his fellow veterans who never made it back from World War II and other wars. He spoke to the Telegraph before his speech, as the parade participants gathered at Holman Stadium.
He looked around at the high school bands and groups of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts lining up for the parade. "It's good that they're here." he said. "In so many places, families don't participate in Memorial Day ceremonies. They could forget."
In his speech just before the parade stepped off, Todd noted that the world would suffer if people did not remember the veterans who died while fighting for freedom.
"We must help ourselves and others to remember, and through that help the children catch a gleam of the country we know and love" he said. "We must maintain our vigilance, lest other countries try to take over our freedom."
As Todd and others addressed the marchers, the rain began to fall harder.
Members of the Bishop Guertin High School marching band scurried to cars to keep their instruments, and themselves, dry. Carroll White of Merrimack, dressed in the homespun attire of a Revolutionary War rifleman, found shelter under a modern Army cannon.
Nine-year olds Lynn Hendrickson and Michelle Sommers, both members of Brownie Troop 76 of Nashua, tried to deep dry by huddling under the American flag Hendrickson was to carry in the parade.
"We'll march in the rain, but I'd (prefer) it sunny and hot," Sommers said.
The speeches ended, but the rain did not and soon it was time for the parade to start.
The crowds along Amherst Street were thin and scattered, with many peopl observing from the dry haven of their front porches.
The weather didn't bother Gertrude and Camille Lessard of 2 Vernon St. They used an outdoor patio umbrella for shelter as they sat at the corner of Vernon and Amherst streets, their favorite parade spot for the last 20 years.
”We never miss the parades," Gertrude Lessard said. "And the rain doesn't bother us a bit."
Her husband, a veteran who missed participating in this year's parade because of his health, chimed in, "They didn't stop the war because of rain."
Along Main Street, the crowds were much bigger. Hundreds of people stood under store awnings and trees to watch the parade march by.
While rain put a slight damper on Nashua's ceremonies, it did let up in time for Milford's parade early Monday afternoon. People there began staking out the best seats at the Oval shortly after 1 p.m. armed with raincoats and umbrellas in case the gray skies did more than just threaten.
Helen Abbot, 73, of Hudson sat on a lawn chair next to her 24-year-old grandson, Nathan, of Milford. "The parade in Hudson goes right by my house, but this is where I grew up," Helen Abbott said. "This is home. So I come back here every year for the parade."
Nathan Abbott, one of the few attendees his age at the parade, said he tries to come every year. "I think a lot of people in my age group don't put an emphasis on a little thing like this, he began.
His grandmother interrupted, "But it's not a little thing."
He continued, "I agree, and that's why I'm here. But a lot of them would rather be out laying in the sun or drinking."
The main speaker at Milford's ceremony was Rep. Judd Gregg, who is running for govenor. He echoed the message given earlier by Todd in Nashua.
"We gather here today to honor those who gave us liberty and peace," Gregg said. 'But the reason they died can become obscure in day-to-day living."
He urged attendees to remember those who dies and to remember why they died. "W cannot bring back the dead but we can remember them," Gregg said. "And we can thank them for ourselves, for our children and for our children's children, to thank them for the peace and liberty they gave us."
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