LOWELL, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Monday, May 28, a Memorial Day ceremony will be conducted at the Veterans’ Memorial Park in the Centraville section of Lowell, Massachusetts, to honor the 12 American servicemen who died at a Japanese prison camp in Hiroshima when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. At the ceremony, which will begin at 9:00 AM ET, a memorial stone bearing the names of all 12 servicemen and the branch of their service will be unveiled. The Centraville Veterans’ Memorial Park is located at the intersection of Ennell Street and Aiken Avenue.
“With this memorial stone, we are honoring these twelve brave American servicemen who paid the supreme sacrifice: They will never be forgotten,” said Bernard Lemoine, President of the Centraville Memorial Park Committee, who worked with Memorial Park Program Director Joseph Dussault to oversee the new monument. “This memorial will be the only one of its kind honoring these 12 American servicemen in the state of Massachusetts.”
The servicemen to be honored are Normand Brissette, U.S. Navy PO 3rd; Buford Ellison, USAAC Lt.; Hugh Atkinson, USAAC Sgt.; John Long, USAAC Cpl.; Raymond Porter, US Navy Ltjg.; Durden Looper, USAAC Lt.; Ralph Neal, USAAC Sgt.; James Ryan, USAAC Lt.; John Handschel, US Navy Ensign; Charles Baumgartner, USAAC Sgt.; Julius Molnar, USAAC Sgt.; and Joseph Dubinsky, USAAC Lt.
In attendance at the ceremony will be a representative from the United Nations; local and state representatives; Mr. Shigeari Mori, age 89, a Japanese historian who initiated the research into the names of the 12 American servicemen and who was instrumental in having a similar memorial dedicated in Japan to these servicemen. Also in attendance will be the Japanese press and television.
The new monument joins the existing nine monuments in the park, which collectively display the names of over three thousand service members, along with 10 benches donated by the families of veterans.