Lynnfield celebrated Veterans Day with a ceremony at the Veterans Memorial in Lynnfield Common on Tuesday. Bruce Siegel, Lynnfield’s director of veterans services and a veteran himself, emceed the ceremony and welcomed guest of honor, retired Army Capt. David Gallo.
Gallo enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1984 and was mobilized in Desert Storm in 1990. He entered officer candidate school, earning his commission in August of 1993 and rising to the rank of Captain by August of 1997. He retired in 2007.
Gallo told stories of how veterans whose names are engraved on the memorial influenced his own life, including Lauren Lengyel, a U.S. Air Force captain from Lynnfield who served in Vietnam and spent six years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi. Gallo recalled marching in Lengyel’s welcome home parade as a Boy Scout, and how thinking of Lengyal’s story helped him conquer his own fear in battle. He told the story of how, as he was getting ready to retire, he reached out to Lengyal over email, telling him “about how he was an inspiration to me at difficult times.” Lengyel replied and thanked Gallo for his service, which Gallo considers a true honor “coming from a hero like that.”
Gallo reminded the audience that its not only our veterans that sacrifice for this country; their families make sacrifices as well.
“I remember my own wife being much more nervous about me going off to war than I was,” he said. “We have things to do. We have preparations to make and jobs to do and get to fill up our days. The families aren’t always so lucky.”
Gallo ended his address by saying: “How we treat our veterans — how we honor them — determines whether future generations are willing to serve, and that has a direct impact on the security of our country and its people, today and every day. The wonderful town of Lynnfield understands this and lives it every day.”
