The Jan. 6 Veterans Breakfast was highlighted by inclement weather that was braved by dozens of local veterans. Usual discussions nevertheless proceeded, along with a delicious meal provided by an anonymous donor and prepared by the Senior Center staff.
Military events that occurred on or about Jan. 6 were the main theme.
Among the highlights were discussions of Bob Feller, the first Baseball Hall of Fame member to volunteer for World War II combat; the light carrier USS Columbia (CL-56), which was hit by enemy fire near the Philippines, causing 13 to be killed and 44 wounded; Brigadier Gen. Frank D. Merrill, a Hopkinton native (his family relocated when he was a child) who was put in command of a volunteer unit that became known as “Merrill’s Marauders”; and President Franklin Pierce, whose 11-year-old son was killed in a railroad accident in Massachusetts shortly before Pierce’s inauguration in 1853. The Pierces lived in New Hampshire and had a summer home in Andover.
— Recap contributed by Hank Allessio
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