Westfield hosts annual Memorial Day Parade
WESTFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – Westfield honored service members who passed away Monday morning with its annual Memorial Day Parade.
While many people view this observance as a three-day weekend, many Westfield residents have deep ties to the military. American flags and lawn chairs lined the streets of Westfield as the Memorial Day Parade kicked off at City Hall.
What's open and closed on Memorial Day in Massachusetts?
High school marching bands and retired military Humvees strolled down Court Street, tossing candy and tiny American flags. Westfield Mayor Michael McCabe told 22News what this holiday is all about.
'It's about remembrance of those people that have gone before us and have fallen in service to their country,' McCabe said. 'You know, everybody's related to a military vet. My dad's a military vet, my father-in-law's a military vet, brothers and sisters, they're all veterans of service.'
Memorial Day parades like the one in Westfield were seen all across the state to honor our fallen service members. One Westfield Councilwoman can relate to this very well. Cindy Harris is the daughter of a Korean War veteran, Frank Carlson, who died in action in 1954. She spoke about her relationship with past and current service members.
'As far as I'm concerned. everybody in serves in the service, any branch, is a brother and sister of mine,' Harris said. 'My father died when I was this big, and every Memorial Day is like going to another funeral. But we all stay happy and put one foot in front of the other. We think about them and enjoy our life because that's what they wanted us to do.'
Today, there are over 37,000 fallen service members from Massachusetts.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
14 minutes ago
- CBS News
Wildfire smoke continues into the Pittsburgh region along with multiple storm chances
Thursday begins on a very warm and smoky note across most of Western Pennsylvania and Northern West Virginia. Wildfire smoke and haze have mixed down to this surface, resulting in code yellow to code orange air quality, meaning that the condition of the air is unhealthy for those with any underlying health conditions. WEATHER LINKS: Current Conditions | School Closings & Delays | Submit Your Weather Photos This wildfire smoke and haze will continue to be in place across our area through 2-3 p.m. this afternoon before thunderstorms develop. The outflow winds from these thunderstorms should finally help to stir up the atmosphere a bit and mix out the smoke. Severe weather chances over the next three days KDKA Weather Center Ahead of the storms, high temperatures will easily reach the low to mid-80s, which is a few degrees above normal for this time of year. Speaking of storms, the SPC has most of our area in a level 1 out of 5 severe risk for today and tomorrow. Storms should form in the increasingly moist air ahead of a cold front and a weak disturbance moving in from the northwest. We should see development around 3 p.m. Thursday, with the highest coverage generally in our northwest zones, although some models suggest there could be simultaneous development in the Laurel Highlands and Ridges as well. Initially, coverage will be isolated, but as storm tops collapse and weaken, this may spawn new development in different areas. Low temperatures and rain chances on Thursday evening KDKA Weather Center Storm coverage should diminish after 8-9 p.m. with only scattered showers overnight, but another disturbance moving in during the mid-morning hours of Friday will likely re-ignite storms during the midday and afternoon hours. There will not be a ton of wind shear today and tomorrow, so these will be more pulse-like, disorganized storms with a localized "microburst" wind threat along with hail. Winds could gust upwards of 60-70mph in isolated spots along with pea to quarter-sized hail. Rain chances over the next week KDKA Weather Center The cold front will eventually sag south into the region by early Saturday with a chance of early morning showers. Most of Saturday into Saturday night is trending drier as we will be in between systems. On Sunday, moisture will return north ahead of a strong low system and cold front poised to arrive on Monday. We could see storm chances increase as early as Sunday afternoon, with the higher chances moving in on Monday. This system will have much stronger winds aloft accompanied by sufficient moisture and some instability, so we will need to keep an eye on the severe weather threat with next Monday's system. Lingering showers and storms will continue on Tuesday, before a cold front moves in, resulting in drier conditions by the following Wednesday. 7-day forecast: June 5, 2025 KDKA Weather Center Stay up to date with the KDKA Mobile App – which you can download here!
CBS News
16 minutes ago
- CBS News
Multiple SEPTA buses catch fire at bus yard in Nicetown section of Philadelphia
Several SEPTA buses are on fire at a yard in the Nicetown section of Philadelphia, images from Chopper 3 show. This location is SEPTA's Midvale depot, off Roberts Avenue. A spokesperson says these are decommissioned buses. Chopper 3/CBS News Philadelphia The Philadelphia Fire Department is on scene responding. There is a large plume of smoke visible from across the city. We're working to learn more about the cause of the fire and if anyone was injured. This is a developing story and will be updated.
CBS News
an hour ago
- CBS News
Man fatally stabbed by group on Chicago's Southwest Side
A man was stabbed to death by a group in Chicago's Brighton Park neighborhood on Wednesday night, according to Chicago police. According to the Chicago Department, a 23-year-old man got into a fight with a woman he knew in the 4300 block of South California Avenue just after 11:15 p.m. Chicago police said that's when the group the man was with started attacking him. During the attack, someone in the group stabbed the man with a sharp object. The 23-year-old was pronounced dead on the scene. The victim's identity is unknown at this time. No arrests have been made. Police are investigating.
