In 1979, The Hampton Gazette first published the Memorial Day Address, written and delivered by resident historian James Robertson. Since then it’s been an annual tradition to feature the keynote speech, in its entirety or with excerpts, in the July issue of the newspaper. The speeches of 28 people have been published, preserving words which have honored veterans, described personal experiences of war, provided historical information, encouraged patriotism, and reminded us of the good fortune of living in a place like Hampton and in a country where we are free. Some residents have spoken multiple times – Mr. Robertson and Dick Brown, veterans Wendell Davis, John Woodworth, Charlie Halbach and Gordon Hansen, and Renee Cuprak, one of only a few women asked to deliver the Address, starting with Irene Brown in 1997, and Janet Robertson, who shared a special story which included an invitation to find her afterwards so that we could “shake the hand of an old lady, who shook the hand of an old man, who shook the hand of a lady, who shook the hand of a man who shook the hand of George Washington,” making 2007 a very memorable Memorial Day.

Some speakers were from neighboring towns, our beloved Dr. Valentine in 2003, the family physician who served our community for years from Abington, and local historian Bev York who spoke in 2014 of the patriot Nathan Hale. State and national representatives have also honored us with their presence at our podium, State Senator Tony Guglielmo in 2004, State Representative Mike Alberts in 2008, and U. S. Congressman Joe Courtney in 2011. All three left us with inspirational messages, and impressed with our commemoration, our ceremony and our parade, our apparent pride in our town, reverence for our veterans, and the spirit of community we never fail to deliver on this holiday.

Other notable speakers included two of the pastors of our Congregational Church, in 1989 the Reverend Peter Dyer, and in 2013, Peter Marsden returned to Hampton to deliver the Memorial Address and recite the monologue he performed 37 years earlier, reprising his title role on the stage of the Hampton Community Players’ production of “Ben Franklin in Paris”.

Most of the speeches we’ve published have been written by veterans, who shared their personal experiences in Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the Lyete Gulf, Pearl Harbor, the Moselle River, the Euphrates, Korea and Vietnam, and relayed some chilling scenes, of witnessing “dead men stacked like cord wood”, “the stench of rotting flesh on a tropical beach”, “the struggles, the mud and cold, the fearfulness, the longing for home”. Korean War veteran Gordon Hansen wrote of Leslie Jewett, who perished on D-Day during the Normandy invasion and is buried in the South Cemetery near a family member who “responded to the alert at Lexington”. World War II Veteran Charlie Halbach spoke of the war efforts on the home front, including the observation outpost on Pudding Hill. Korean War Veteran Jim Rodriguez hoped that our next generation would “grow in peace to roam the hills and valleys of their homeland…with the conviction of purpose to do what must be done to preserve that which they must inherit.” All have called us to patriotism, with a message echoing the first — encouraging us to “live in ways deserving of the lives and deaths” of our veterans, “keeping our community alive, serving it, helping one another”, to ensure that “our Hampton, and our Nation”, continues to be “a good place to live”.