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Softball league dedicates monument to veterans

The Spectator - 6/6/2018

SOMERSET - Veterans from Somerset helped to pay to put roofs on two dugouts at the Roy and Alma Ashton Sports Complex to help shield youth softball players from the sun. Somerset Senior Girls Softball League President Peter Cabral said money was tight for the league at the time and the veterans helped to jump start the improvements to the dugouts. On Wednesday of last week, the league showed its apprecation for what the veterans have done by unveiling a small granite monument dedicated to them at the field complex.

The monument reads "Somerset Senior Girls Softball extends its appreciation and gratitude to the Somerset veterans."

"Hopefully, it will be here for a long time," Cabral said of the monument as he was surrounded by local veterans from Somerset and some players from the league.

The league has also put a new flag pole up. The monument is next to the flag pole that has some fresh mulch around it, along with some plants and a light to shine on the flag. The area is surrounded by rocks. Cabral said Somerset Highway Department employees designed the area.

"It looks nice," Cabral said. "Hopefully, it will stay that way."

Somerset Selectman David Berube praised Somerset Highway Department workers for volunteering their time to work on the area.

"I think almost everyday, you should think about the veterans who fight for our freedom to give us the lives we have," Berube said. "Whatever we can do for the veterans, we should do it for them."

Cabral, who worked as a police officer in Somerset for 45 years and was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War era, said some of the players in the league probably have parents or grandparents who are veterans.

"My brother and I are veterans," Cabral said. "I have an uncle who died in the Battle of the Bulge."

Somerset Veterans Services Officer Heather Cheetham said veterans do a lot for people and children. She said she played softball and the girls in the league will not forget playing at the Ashton Field Complex.

"It's the best memory you'll ever have," Cheetham said.

The league purchased the granite monument from Albanese Monuments. The POW-MIA symbol and an American flag are carved into the monument.

"This is beautiful," said Donald Truver, a Korean War veteran, after looking at the monument. "You couldn't ask for anything better."

Some of the others who attended the dedication of the monument included David Aubry, commander of the Somerset Veterans of Foreign Wars Post, Bruce Aldrich, commandant of the Marine CorpsLeague Detachment in Somerset, and Wayne Medeiros, commander of the Amvets Post in Somerset.

"I think it's wonderful," Aubry said of the monument. "It's nice to see appreciation for the veterans and the town did a wonderful job with the whole landscape."