Islanders in service

By Janet Hefler
Published: November 13, 2008

Our Nation observed Veterans Day on Tuesday, a day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military, in wartime or peacetime.

As part of The Martha's Vineyard Times continuing coverage of the Vineyard's active duty service men and women, we invited family members and friends to provide an update on their whereabouts for the community:

BM1 Jordan Baptiste.
USCG PHOTO

BM1 Jordan E. Baptiste, U.S. Coast Guard

Boatswain's Mate Baptiste currently is deployed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean onboard the USCGC Bertholf on its first operational patrol since being commissioned last August as the nation's first national security cutter. The Bertholf is part of the Coast Guard's Deepwater modernization program, which ties into the Rescue 21 system that utilizes radio towers such as the one that will be installed on Peaked Hill in Chilmark. Petty Officer Baptiste is the lead training petty officer onboard the Bertholf responsible for the training and qualification of sailors in law enforcement and small boat operations. He grew up in Vineyard Haven and graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.

Lt. Mason Berry, USN, keeps on top of the news with The Martha's Vineyard Times.
Photo courtesy of Lt. Berry

Lt. Mason Berry, U.S. Navy

Lieutenant Berry, a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is stationed in Kuwait as the tactical officer for the 2515th Naval Air Ambulance Detachment (NAAD). As the only Navy detachment serving in support of operations for the ground services in Iraq, the NAAD's unique mission is to provide continuous medical evacuation coverage for Kuwait, southern Iraq, and the Northern Arabian Gulf to help relieve the burden on U.S. Army medevac crews. Lt. Berry pilots an MH-60S helicopter used in medevac missions on both land and sea. The lieutenant is the son of Peyton and Andrew Berry of Vineyard Haven.

Sgt. Travis Bissey, U.S. Army

Sergeant Bissey of Vineyard Haven was deployed for a second tour in Iraq last April as a member of the Massachusetts National Guard, and shipped out in June with his long-time friend, Sgt. Jared Meader, also of Vineyard Haven. Sergeant Bissey currently is carrying out support missions for public safety in Iraqi towns. He and Sgt. Meader met while serving in the Marine Corps together and he moved to the Vineyard after getting out of the Marines. The two of them signed up for the Guard at the same time and were deployed together to Iraq in 2004 for 14 months. They both will be home on leave for Thanksgiving on Martha's Vineyard.

Staff Sgt. Michael Blake, U.S. Army

Sergeant Blake started his third tour of 15 months in Iraq last February, assigned with an infantry division of the U.S. Army's 1st Brigade Combat Team, Multi-National Division in Baghdad. On March 25, he was traveling as a scout section sergeant in a convoy bound for port operations in Kuwait, and helped save a critically injured U.S. Army civilian contractor involved in a head-on collision on a main supply route in the Udairi Desert.

Spc. Justin P. Cusick, U.S. Army

Specialist Cusick, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), completed a one-year tour in Kuwait as a member of a transportation terminal battalion and returned to Fort Bragg, N.C., last June. Since then, he completed his commitment to the Army and has joined the U.S. Air Force to pursue his interest in intelligence work.

The U.S. Coast Guard Station Menemsha personnel also deserve recognition as honorary Islanders in service. Above, crewmembers aboard a 47-foot motor lifeboat assisted last Sunday in rescuing a crew of three from a sinking 82-foot tugboat in western Buzzards Bay..
Photo by New Bedford Police Department Marine Unit

Sgt. 1st Class Kevin M. Devine, U.S. Army

Sgt. Devine, stationed at Fort Drum, N.Y., will be deployed for a year-long tour in Afghanistan after Christmas. He grew up on Martha's Vineyard and began his 16-year military career after graduating from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School. Island family members include his sister Stephanie Devine, mother Wendy Oliver, and aunt Janet King. His dad, Herbie Devine, lives in Randolph. Sgt. Devine and his wife Tabitha have four children, two daughters aged 19 and 4, two sons, 16, 14, and a one-year-old grandson.

1st Lt. James Hagerty, U.S. Marine Corps

Lt. Hagerty, an Infantry Platoon Commander, is on his second tour of duty in Iraq for a year. He grew up in Edgartown and graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School in 2001. Lt. Hagerty joined the Marines and attended Officers Candidate School after graduating with highest honors from Northeastern University. He is the son of Barry Nevin of Edgartown and Robert Hagerty of Vineyard Haven.

Cpl. Duncan MacMullen, U.S. Marine Corps

Corporal MacMullen is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he serves in a maintenance battalion performing engine diagnostics. From February to September 2007 he was deployed to Camp Al Taqaddum (also known as "Camp TQ" by military personnel) in Iraq, located approximately 46 miles west of Baghdad. A 2004 Martha's Vineyard Regional High School graduate, Cpl. MacMullen is the son of Nancy MacMullen, who owns the Cobbler Shop in Oak Bluffs.

Staff Sgt. Jared A. Meader, U.S. Army

Sergeant Meader of Vineyard Haven shipped out to Iraq last June, deployed as a member of the Massachusetts National Guard along with his friend, Sergeant Bissey. During Sergeant Meader's first 14-month deployment starting in March 2003, he served in a water purification unit in Iraq in Ramadi for nine months, and then went to Habinyah where he was in charge of a site. He currently is assigned to a support battalion as part of a military transition team working with Iraqi soldiers and also in the communities. As a civilian, he works as a Deputy Sheriff with the rank of sergeant in the Dukes County Jail and House of Correction. His wife Julie and their three children are counting the days until he comes home on leave for Thanksgiving.

Lt. Col. Andre L. Mercier, U.S. Marine Corps

Colonel Mercier grew up in Edgartown and graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School in 1985. He joined the Marine Corps after graduating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He has served for more than 18 years as a navigator and flew in the EA-6B "Prowler." His tours of duty included service in Afghanistan and Bosnia. Currently Colonel Mercier is working in Crystal City, Va., on a multi-service project to build the Joint Strike Fighter for the Marines, Navy, and Air Force.

FN Ryan Rossi, USCG, aboard the USCGC Morgenthau.
Photo courtesy of Dan Rossi

FN Ryan D. Rossi, U.S. Coast Guard

Fireman (FN) Ryan Rossi continues to serve aboard the USCGC Morgenthau, a 378-foot high endurance cutter, at its homeport in Alameda, Calif. FN Rossi returned back to the States in September after a five-month deployment aboard the Morgenthau to Southeast Asia, where the ship's mission was to provide law enforcement and search and rescue training to six countries - the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. FN Rossi, a 2006 Martha's Vineyard Regional High School graduate, is the son of Daniel and Jane Rossi of West Tisbury.

Lance Cpl. Anthony M. Sullo, U.S. Marine Corps

Corporal Sullo is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. An infantry squad leader, recently he has been in Virginia training in preparation for a 9- to 10-month deployment to Afghanistan in February 2009. Last May he finished a seven-month tour in Kuwait where he patrolled along the Iraq/Syrian border. Corporal Sullo is a 2006 graduate of Martha's Vineyard Regional High School. He will be home on leave for Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to his father, Peter Sullo, co-owner of Rocco's Family Style Italian Restaurant in Tisbury Marketplace.

Veterans Day honors those who served

At the close of World War I, on Nov. 11, 1918, an armistice between the Allied nations and Germany began in the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month.

In 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Nov. 11 the first commemoration of Armistice Day, celebrated with parades, public meetings, and a brief suspension of business at 11 am.

An act approved by Congress in May 1938 made Nov. 11 a legal holiday to be celebrated and known as "Armistice Day," primarily to honor veterans of World War I.

However, with the return of so many veterans after World War II and America's subsequent conflict in Korea, in May 1954, Congress amended the Act of 1938 by replacing the word "Armistice" with "Veterans." In October, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed the first Veterans Day holiday.

The Uniform Holiday Bill signed into law in 1968 included Veterans Day as one of four holidays to be celebrated on Mondays. However, the first Veterans Day, celebrated on Oct. 25, 1971, caused so much confusion and controversy that in 1975, President Gerald R. Ford signed a public law returning the annual observation of Veterans Day to Nov. 11.

Veterans Day is properly spelled without an apostrophe because it is not a day that belongs to veterans but rather a day to honor them.

Many people confuse Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country. While Veterans Day also honors those who died, it is a day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military, in wartime or peacetime.

The following Island veterans died since last November:

Stewart Allen
Roger Lawrence Andrews
Carl Branson Anderson
Theodore F. Arrington
Janice M. Asadoorian
Stuart A. Bangs
Paul Francis Bergeron
Mary Joan Cleary
Elbert B. Collins, Jr.
Carlton J. Condon
Gabriel Joseph DeBlase
Vincent P. Dellatorre
Francis Sanford Duane
Louis J. Estrella
John D. Ferriera Jr.
Richard H. Fitzpatrick
Robert N. Flanders Jr.
Richard Allen Gale
Ramon Gordon
Hyman U. Hoffman
Mark W. Immelt
Arthur K. Johnson
Charles Leighton
A. Freeman Leonard Jr.
Desmond Willoughby Margetson
Lloyd Mayhew
Robert T. Morgan
Stephen G. Murphy
John C. Nevin
Erik K. Pfau
Robert F. Quinn
Frederick Rickson
Bernard P. Rover
Francis B. Sayre Jr.
Herbert Anderson Searle
Prentice K. Smith
Julius E. Spector
Roger Bagloe Stone
Harold A. Tilton Jr.
Jane Dickie Ware
David John Wayfield
David Dunlap Willey
Jesse J. Williams
Peter M. Williamson
Robert Williston
(List courtesy of Director of Veterans Services Jo Ann Murphy.)

PFC Jack VanBourgondien, U.S. Marine Corps

PFC VanBourgondien is currently undergoing training before shipping out to Iraq. His grandmother, Clara Marshall of Edgartown, said she heard from him about four weeks ago and that he did not have any details yet about his deployment. PFC VanBourgondien was born on Martha's Vineyard and is the son of Roma Jean Marshall of Hyannis and Jack VanBourgondien, who lives in Colorado. He lived with his grandmother and uncle Daniel Marshall while growing up in Oak Bluffs, and graduated in 2007 from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School.

Sgt. Christopher Willis, U.S. Army

Sergeant Willis was deployed October 29 with the 772nd Military Police Company, a Taunton-based Massachusetts Army National Guard company, for training at Fort Dix, N.J., before shipping out to Iraq in January to train Iraqi police officers and security personnel. This will be the third deployment for Sgt. Willis, a military police officer (MP). Sgt. Willis grew up in Oak Bluffs and graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School in 1998. He joined the Massachusetts Army National Guard prior to enrolling in college, and was called up in 2002 to serve as an MP in Afghanistan for a year. In July 2007 he was deployed to Iraq with an Army National Guard unit out of Cambridge to serve in the Baghdad area for 400 days.

Island homecomings

Since last Veterans Day, the Martha's Vineyard community has welcomed home several soldiers from service in Iraq and the Persian Gulf:

Cpl. Christopher Leigh Clark, U.S. Marine Corps

Corporal Clark finished a seven-month tour in Iraq as a desk sergeant with a military police company responsible for base security last April, and also completed his commitment to the Marine Corps. He received a big welcome home May 29 when he and his wife and two young sons arrived on Island to enjoy the summer with his parents, Richard Clark and Nancy Gardella and grandparents Lorraine and Dick Clark of Vineyard Haven. After working as a special officer with the Tisbury Police Department for the summer, Cpl. Clark and his family returned to Rockford, Ill., to live, where he is working for a security firm and taking college courses.

Staff Sgt. Randy Dull, U.S. Army

Sgt. Dull, who grew up on Martha's Vineyard and graduated from Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, returned home in July after serving 15 months on his second tour of duty with an Army infantry branch in Iraq. He also served a tour in Kosovo. Although injured twice in wartime service, once while in a Humvee hit by a roadside bomb, he made a good recovery. With his active duty military commitment completed, he continues to serve in the Army National Guard while living and working on Martha's Vineyard.

Sgt. Daniel E. Dunlap, U.S. Army

Sgt. Dunlap of Oak Bluffs returned home June 14 after serving a one-year tour in Baghdad with a military police company attached to a New Hampshire National Guard unit based in Concord. As a military police officer, he helped the Iraqi police force train its officers, and spent many missions patrolling the streets in Baghdad.

Sgt. Dunlap's special welcome home included a public Masonic procession, the first of its kind on Martha's Vineyard, by the officers of Oriental-Martha's Vineyard Lodge, of which he is a member. Since his return, he is working as a carpenter and continues to serve in the National Guard.

Capt. Ron MacLaren, U.S. Naval Reserves

Captain MacLaren returned to Martha's Vineyard and his job as the Wampanoag health director last May after serving in Kuwait since November 27, 2007, as the Commander of the Navy Expeditionary Logistics Support Group Forward GOLF, assisting the U.S. Army in a shore-type mission to provide customs and cargo handling. Last weekend Capt. MacLaren relinquished his command to his relief officer in a change of command ceremony at his headquarters in Fort Dix, N.J. With seven months remaining until he finishes his military commitment at 30 years, he will be doing project work while assigned to the headquarters staff in Williamsburg, Va.

Staff Sgt. Richard Monaco, U.S. Army Reserves

Sergeant Monaco, a reservist for more than 27 years, returned home on July 9 after eight months in Iraq, his third tour of duty there. In November 2007, he was deployed to work with the 448th Civil Affairs Battalion based out of Fort Lewis, Wash. In Iraq he was stationed at Forward Operating Base Falcon, and served in Ramadi and Baghdad. Sergeant Monaco sustained shoulder and back injuries last April when riding in a three-truck convoy hit by an explosively formed projectile. After his homecoming and some time spent recovering from his injuries, he recently resumed his job at Tisbury's Department of Public Works.

Other Island veterans who recently served in Iraq and Afghanistan include: James Angier, Michael Berninger, David Berube, Daniel Blake, James C. Brown, Robert Dickson, Howard Ditson, Peter Forend, Matthew Grant, Michael Halt, Paul Humber, John Kresel, Jake Merrill, Jeffrey Nader, Tom Rancich, Ralph Requena, Chris Russell, Daryl Stevens, and Jared Wardell.

For those mentioned here and the many other Island veterans who share a proud tradition of military service who are not listed, The Martha's Vineyard Times extends a heart-felt thank-you.