August “Gus” Cote is 93 years old, a Korean War veteran, and possibly the oldest living veteran in Acushnet. Sitting around a table with seven other veterans at the Acushnet Council on Aging one Tuesday morning in June, he said words that landed like something not yet spoken but true.
“All these guys are my brothers,” Cote said. “And getting together on a Tuesday like we do is better than being at a VFW meeting or the American Legion. We talk with each other in our meetings. We don’t get to talk much elsewhere.”
There is a new Veterans Wall at the Acushnet Council on Aging honoring the service of veterans connected to the town. Families are represented here, multiple generations as well as husbands and wives who served together, each photographed in uniform, with name and rank listed.
The wall matters. Acknowledging the sacrifices of those who served matters.
But Gus Cote wasn’t talking about the wall.
The others agreed. Military service is something nearly impossible to share with those who haven’t experienced it, so they don’t — not outside a circle of people who already know.
“I never really talked about it either, even though it was things we did saving people’s lives, saving property,” said Keith Stalter, who served in the Coast Guard. “But the wall, it’s deserved recognition. Nobody ever said thank you, and now everybody’s like, ‘Oh, thank you for your service.’ I don’t want to hear it from you. I don’t want to hear it from them. I want to hear it from politicians.”
The wall was the idea of Brad Fish, Acushnet’s veterans service officer and veteran, who saw a similar wall make a difference in Fairhaven, where he previously worked. He reached out to local VFW and American Legion commanders before getting started, establishing criteria for being on the wall, then worked with veterans individually to find a photo of themselves in uniform.
For Fish, the wall is one more way he can serve veterans in Acushnet. He connected with Council on Aging Director Lauren Golda about creating it at the Senior Center and handles all of the logistics of making it happen.
“They bring me their picture and I put all the tags on and I buy the frame just so everything’s uniform,” Fish said.
Fish also runs the regular meeting on the first Tuesday of each month where veterans can connect with others who have served. And veterans have been showing up reliably.
Sergeant Major James Rollins, an Army veteran, is on the wall alongside his wife, Laurie, both in uniform. They met in the service and have been married for 43 years. Their story is its own kind of military narrative. After the wedding, she was stationed at Fort Lewis while he was at Fort Ord, and it took six months before they could be together. Even then, regulations kept them on opposite sides of the post.
“I’m glad they’re doing this. It’s great for everybody that served in this area,” Rollins said about the wall. “We’re all service members and being part of the military is part of our life.”
Ray Barlow served in the Army from 1969 to 1972, completing two tours in Vietnam. He came home to a country that wasn’t ready to thank him, or anyone who served there.
“I like this for one reason,” Barlow said of the wall. “We were never given any appreciation for what we did. At least here, you can talk to these guys. And anybody that’s been to Vietnam knows it wasn’t all a big disaster. There were some good times, but most of it was bad.”
Manny Santos, who served in the Air Force, wrapped it up simply.
“You know, you get old like me. I’m 88. My friends are gone. And there’s nobody like me until I come here.”
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