2025 Veteran of the Year

---

Frank McCarthy, as a senior at Notre Dame High School, West Haven, received a Four Year Army ROTC scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. Upon completion of his academic studies in Government and International Relations, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps. He received MOS training at Fort Gordon, Georgia & Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was then assigned to the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington where he served in 3/34 Field Artillery Battalion, 9th Signal Battalion, and 2/47 Infantry Battalion. He received the US National Defense Medal and the US Army Commendation Medal. Upon completion of his four year active duty military obligation, he served in the Connecticut Army National Guard. He later obtained his M.B.A. Degree from Sacred Heart University on the G.I. Bill.

His comments on Memorial Day follow:

"I'd like to express my appreciation to the East Haven Mayor Carfora, the East Haven Veterans Council and my friends in American Legion Post 89 for this honor.

You might have made a mistake - as there are other veterans who deserve this more than I. I have never served in combat, nor had to fire my weapon except at targets located downrange.  My service was all stateside as the Vietnam War was winding down. However, I was and still am proud that I got to wear the uniform of my country.

I was inspired by the military service of both my parents who were Navy veterans in WWII. Mom was a Navy Nurse & my Dad was a Pharmacist Mate First Class. I had 3 uncles who served in the military, one was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 aboard the USS Nevada. I had 2 aunts who were Navy & Air Force Nurses. My sister was a Navy Nurse & my brother retired from the Navy. My oldest son is a Naval Aviator currently flying Sikorsky helicopters -- MH60-R's off an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific.

While I am no longer a resident of East Haven, my family had served East Haven - my Dad served on the Board of Education for 8 years & my brother retired from the Police Department.

I have attended the last several burials of the unclaimed cremains of veterans at the State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown CT. There I heard the then Commissioner Thomas Saadi of the CT Department of Veterans Affairs state that "there is an old saying when someone passes on they actually die 2 deaths, one when their last breath leaves their lungs and their heart ceases to beat, but then a second - a more permanent one - when they are forgotten."

May we never forget Freedom isn’t Free. Memorial Day is a day to honor the brave men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. This Memorial Day, our deepest gratitude goes to the fallen men and women who gave the citizens of the United States a chance to make this world a better place. We have been blessed to be inspired by quotations of  others:

The Connecticut Native and Yalie, Nathan Hale:

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Civil War General & President James A. Garfield:

“We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.”

Civil War General & Yale Professor Francis A. Walker:

“We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them.” 

WWII General George S. Patton:

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” 

WWII General Douglas MacArthur:

“Duty, Honor, Country. Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”

President Ronald Reagan:

“It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country, in defense of us, in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray haired….But most of them were boys when they died, and they gave up two lives — the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.”

An Unknown stated:

“Our flag does not fly because the wind moves it. It flies with the last breath of each soldier who died protecting it.”

Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm:

“Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more than visits to the troops and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well.”

Mark Twain:

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.""