Veteran's Day is an opportune time to remember our local heroes
Published on November 7th, 2007
STONEHAM, MA - Throughout the duration of his service, Oak Street resident Laurence Babine remembers nothing more frightening and chaotic than the five-month battle that began in Anzio, Italy during the winter of 1944.
Serving with the U.S. Army's 36th Engineer Combat Regiment, Babine landed as a replacement on the beachfront, secured in an attempt to circumvent German forces who had occupied a heavily fortified defense along the Apennine Mountains.
The German positions, on the high ground overlooking the route that allied forces intended to push across in order to seize Rome, were so well defended that Allied advances were stymied time and time again.
Although the landing in Anzio took the Germans by complete surprise, the Nazi forces quickly regrouped, concentrating savage valleys of artillery fire upon the beachfront.
Before the Germans were pushed back, there would be 28,000 casualties in the battle.
In one particularly gruesome barrage, Babine recounted, wounded soldiers and their caretakers fell victim to artillery fire, which landed directly on an evacuation hospital. As Babine recalls it, six nurses died in the attack.
For the ensuing months of battle, front line soldiers and their wounded soldiers would spend much of their time hugging the ground below them.
"Anzio was almost forgotten. But it was probably the worst part of the whole war. No matter where you were, you were always within artillery range," said the lifelong Stonehamite in a recent interview. "That was the thing about Anzio, the terrible, terrible shelling."
"They would have to wait until night until they could move the wounded. They couldn't do it in the daytime, because you wouldn't dare stand-up in the daytime. There were a lot of heroic people who died because they couldn't be evacuated in time," Babine explained.
According to Babine, while that battle in Anzio has been long forgotten, so too has one of Stoneham's greatest warriors, whose actions during combat in May of 1944 - the start of an allied breakthrough - earned him the highest military honor: The Congressional Medal of Honor.
Stoneham native George Hall, who died shortly after his return home from the war, is the only local resident to have ever been awarded the Medal of Honor during the town's entire history.
Likely, as the honor is sparingly bestowed, Hall will remain the only soldier in the immediate area to ever be awarded that honor. And according to Babine, he finds it almost shameful that the Stoneham native's story is all but forgotten by locals.
"This kind of heroism is so rare. It's the type of thing you read about," said Babine of Hall's actions. "The thing about George is that there are so many people in Stoneham who have never heard of him. He died a few years after the war was over, and I think people forgot because he died so quickly."
According to his Medal of Honor certificate, Hall, a Staff Sgt. with the Army's 135th Infantry, 34th Infantry Division, single-handedly took out two enemy machine gun nests on May 23, 1944.
His unit, pushing across open terrain during the Allied breakout of Anzio, was pinned down from fire from three machine gunners and sporadic sniper fire.
In response, Hall volunteered to attack those positions, and crawled along a furrow, as the Germans concentrated their fire on him. Getting within close range of the first machine gun nest, Hall hurled four hand grenades at the enemy.
The Staff Sgt. then grabbed a handful of German potato-masher grenades and engaged the second machine gun nest, all while exposing himself to enemy fire. In total, Hall killed six Germans and forced nine others to surrender.
Hall then crawled towards the third nest, but was thwarted when German artillery landed alongside him, severing his right leg. His company later took the third position.
"George was a Staff Sgt. They were pinned down by these machine guns and he could have said, 'A couple of you guys come with me and we'll go after them,'" said Babine of Hall. "But he didn't. He did it himself."
According to local resident Natalie Webb, a member of the VFW Post 620 that bears Hall's name, Stonehamites could do much to remember not only the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, but also all of Stoneham's veterans.
The organizer of the town's 8th annual Veteran's Memorial Road Race, the only 11K contest in the nation, Webb understands that many people don't have Veteran's Day off from work.
But since the day of remembrance will fall on a Sunday this year, Webb encourages Stonehamites to come down to Town Hall this weekend to participate in the festivities.
"That's the whole mission of the race, to bring about greater awareness of Veteran's Day. And we want to educate the youth as to why we celebrate Veteran's Day," said Webb of the non-profit event.
"It's so important, I believe. Whether you believe in right or wrong, peace or war, those kids are out there protecting us and we ought to thank them for that," added the race organizer.
With registration starting at 8 a.m. at Town Hall, and a cannon blast signaling the start of the 11K race at 11:11 a.m., the road race will also feature music from WROR 105.7, a Starbucks coffee stand with coffee and refreshments, and several other family friendly activities.
This year's race will be dedicated to the late Gerald Sullivan, a Vietnam-era veteran and one of the event's founders. Sullivan's family will participate in the 2 mile walk portion of the event, and a moment of silence will be observed for the former town employee and VFW Commander.
Those interested in volunteering or participating in the 8th Annual Veteran's Day Road Race, which also includes events for toddlers and kids 12 and under, can either contact Webb at 781-572-7466 or logon to www.we-remember.net.
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