NEW BRITAIN, CONN (WTIC Radio)-Fallen soldiers were remembered on this Memorial Day for risking their lives and paying the ultimate sacrifice,
during a ceremony at the Iwo Jima Memorial.
The ceremony included guest speaker and USMC veteran and author Marc Youngquist. He reminded those in the audience
that we need to always remember those who sacrificed their lives.
He said on the New Britain Memorial and the one in Washington is the quote by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. "Uncommon Value was a common virtue." Youngquist added, " Six powerful words speaks volumes of those who stormed Iwo Jima." One hundred Connecticut soldiers died there.
Among those in attendance was 97 year old Stu Lahey of Bridgeport. He survived Iwo Jima, fighting in the war at 18. In an interview, he said when he arrived on the island he didn't know where to sleep.
Soldiers told him to sleep with the others in the bomb crater. When he awoke the next morning he realized that's where they placed the dead bodies. Lahey said around him were about 60 dead soldiers. He said that really shook him because he never saw a dead body before.
The ceremony also featured a stirring rendition of Hallelujah, by the group 4 Guys in a Bunker.
