Pre-Veterans Day 2007 Ceremony – Cushing Memorial Chapel

FRAMINGHAM, MA -- The Framingham Veterans Council in conjunction with The Framingham Lodge No. 1264 B.P. O. Elks Veterans Affairs Committee are hosting an observance to commemorate Veterans Day on Sunday November 4, 2007 at 2PM, a week before Veterans Day so all may attend at the fully restored WW II Cushing Memorial Chapel on 60 Dudley Road in Framingham (next to the Barbieri School).

The respective flags of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and the Town of Framingham are being requested from these entities to be formally presented at this particular ceremony. The Department of Veterans Affairs is the “grandchild” of the formerly titled Veterans Administration as it was known which operated the former Cushing General Army Hospital of which this chapel was a part from 1946 to 1955. The US Army Medical Corps operated the hospital during the dark days of WW II in 1944 and 1945.

It is most fitting that these respective flags remain at the chapel permanently for all to see and reflect on the significance of what occurred here. Sixty years have passed and honoring the contribution of the US Army Medical Corps, The Veterans Administration and the Town of Framingham should not be ignored.

Ms Diane LeBlanc, Director of the National Archives Records Administration in Waltham will be the Keynote Speaker.

As we as a nation witness turbulent times presently, many remember the mood when,during those dark days in 1944 in anticipation for the need of an army hospital to serve Metro West veterans and also all of New England veterans. the centrally located New England Town of Framingham was chosen by the War Department.

On a site formerly owned by R.H. Long, ground was broken for a state of the art hospital of its time which administered care to thousands of New England area military personnel of WW II and later of the Korean War.

At this public event, immediately after the ceremony, all are invited to a collation at the newly renovated handicapped accessible Framingham Elks Hall at 450 Union Avenue, Framingham.