Hi everyone,

Memorial Day week-end is the unofficial beginning of summer for many folks here in Massachusetts, and I hope everyone has a chance to get outside and enjoy the sun.  But it’s also very important for us all to remember that this is, in fact, MEMORIAL DAY week-end – our annual opportunity to remember and honor the servicemen and women who have died protecting us and this great country of ours, and their families.

For folks like me from Swampscott, that means honoring the memories of the three kids from Swampscott who lost their lives fighting for us in Iraq – Jennifer Harris, Jared Raymond and Justin Mooers.  It means thanking the young men and women from Swampscott who’ve served in every conflict and lost their lives.  And it means remembering and honoring the brave men and women – and their families – who have given so much to us with their service and their collective sacrifice.

I thought I’d also take this moment to share the remarks former candidate for Congress Don Hussey gave at the St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in Scituate back in March.

Don is a civic minded guy.  He’s run for office before – twice that I know of in primaries against State Senator Bob Hedlund – and is a lifelong Republican.  He was also one of the first people to get into the race against Congressman Bill Delahunt – before U.S. Senator Scott Brown’s victory, and before anyone thought Delahunt might be vulnerable, or might not run again.

Don was the last person to speak in Scituate that morning, but he was, by far, the best.  He stood at the podium and talked about his family and his son – who is in the Army, and is now stationed in Germany – between tours of duty in Afghanistan.  Don said he’d recently learned that his son would be going back into Afghanistan in May or June, and that he simply didn’t think he could focus on a race for Congress at the same time he would be focusing on helping his daughter-in-law with his grandchildren, and worrying about his son.

Don showed us a journal he’s been keeping for the past year – mostly writing to himself and his son – after his son was almost killed by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) during his last tour in Afghanistan.  Don said he started writing the journal because he didn’t know if his son would be coming home again, and he wanted something to remember him by if he didn’t.

By now, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, and Don closed his comments by repeating the back and forth he had had with his son at the end of their last phone call…”I love you boy…I love you dad…”

I can’t recall ever being so moved by such a short speech.  I got all choked up when I hugged my 19 year-old son and sent him off to college.  No matter how proud a parent must be – and Don is as proud of his son as they come – I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to send a child off to war.  God Bless you Don, God Bless your son, and God Bless all of our sons and daughters in harm’s way this Memorial Day week-end.

Charlie Baker