Selectmen sign Military Community Covenant on Hollis common

Published: Thursday, September 17, 2009

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More military news and honors. 10

It was a beautiful night Sept. 14 as we all stood in the middle of the Hollis Common for the first signing of the Military Community Covenant to be held in a town in New Hampshire.

There have been two covenant signings before Hollis. One signing was held at the Statehouse, hosted by Gov. John Lynch, which included the president of the senate, Speaker of the House Terri Noreilli, the five executive councilors and several hundred veterans and military personnel from all five branches of the armed forces. The second one was hosted by Mayor Frank Guinta, of Manchester, who partnered with the Fisher Cats baseball team president, Rich Brenner. There were more than 8,000 people there for the game, and it was also Veterans and Military Appreciation Night.

As I stood on the Hollis Common, my mind started to drift away, thinking about how many soldiers and veterans have stood on the common before me. As a direct descendent in two family lines who served in the Revolutionary War, I have been to the towns in Connecticut where my ancestors met on a common in Simsbury and Granby, gathering to fight at the Battle of Bennington. I guess being on the common at Hollis brought back memories of my parents taking their four boys to learn our history.

The common couldn’t have been a better venue for the singing. Chairs and a table were placed in the middle, and 20 chairs for guests were quickly filled. There were about 70 people at the event.

The U.S. Army was led by Capt. Christine Chamber, just back from serving 13 months in Iraq and now leading the recruiting company in New Hampshire. Chambers also brought the color guard and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Sgt. Reynolds led the color guard, carrying the American flag, the Army flag and my flag as the aide to the secretary of the Army.

Four of the five Hollis selectmen were present. They included Chairman Vahrij Manoukian, Mack LeDoux, Frank Cadwell and Peter Band.

As I watched Manoukian open up the meeting, I thought about him as a young man who came to America in 1977 from Lebanon and, in 1981, became a U.S. citizen. He spoke to me on one occasion about the blood running in the streets of his home country.

He graduated from Northeastern University School of Pharmacy and, in 1985, opened his own pharmacy in Hollis. His pharmacy is one of the largest independent pharmacies in the state.

In 2005, the Massachusetts School of Pharmacy bestowed Manoukian with an honorary doctorate. He also was credited with getting the pharmacy school to open a branch in Manchester.

The list is long with his charitable support for our veterans and military personnel and their families. He also serves on the New Hampshire Board of Pharmacy and the Professional Conduct Committee (the committee is in place to deal with lawyers who may have problems).

After all the military protocol was done, the chairman read the Military Community Covenant, and then the selectmen signed several copies.

One Covenant will be framed and placed at the town hall; others will go to the secretary of the Army’s office, National Guard and U.S. Army Battalion.

Beside the many army soldiers present, the National Guard was represented by deputy adjutant general Brig. Gen. Stephen Burritt and Col. Rich Duncan, chief of staff for the Army side of the Guard.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Col. Carol Protzmann, the leader of the National Guard as point person for the Covenants. Protzmann is also the Joint Forces commander at Joint Forces headquarters and also served in Iraq.

Before the meeting started, I had the young soldiers meet all the veterans in attendance. We had veterans from every war since World War II to the present. World War II veterans included Omer Cote, who was D-Day plus five, and Pfc. John J. Diclemente, who was part of First Army and was in the second wave of troops. He let me know it was exactly 10 in the morning. Diclemente also served in the Battle of the Bulge. He mentioned that if the 101st Airborne Division hadn’t come to their aid, they all would have been killed.

Also in attendance was state Sen. Peggy Gilmour, state Rep. Brian Rhodes, of Nashua, and other politicians.

I would also like to thank the town manager, Troy Brown.

The next covenant signing will be held in Nashua.

God bless our troops.

Griffin T. Dalianis is commander of Gate City Chapter 7 of the Disabled American Veterans and a civilian aide to the Secretary of the Army. He also serves on the Mayor’s Veterans Council and is chairman of the State Veterans Advisory Committee. Call or fax questions to 598-2523 or e-mail GTDPHD@gmail.com.