"The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army."
- George Washington 
August 27, 1776
On a warm summer morning in a field at Long Island, New York General George Washington spoke those words to an anxious group of young men gathered there to defend an idea.
Their belief in a free nation where the rights of a citizen were bestowed upon them by God and not by a king was radical at the time, but one worth fighting for, and, if necessary, dying for.
General Washington could not have had any idea at the time how true his words would become. 
With the outcome of the struggle gravely in doubt, brave young men summoned the courage to lay upon the altar of freedom their life, their liberty and their fortune. 
Included among those early patriots were the boys from Waltham.
As our Nation pauses to honor those who gave the last full measure of devotion in defense of our liberty we owe a special debt of gratitude to every generation of veterans, but especially to those who never made it back to neighborhoods across our city.
As you read their names, please remember that they were the kids that we see today on School Street, and on Lake Street, and on Hall Street, and on Main Street, and on Prentice Street and along Moody Street.
Remember that each of these kids had a unique voice and a hair color and a talent and a fault and a wit and a way of walking and a family left with a deep hole made by their passing.
During an interview for the finale of the highly acclaimed series 'Band of Brothers', based upon the Stephen Ambrose book of the same title, the leader of that band of brothers, Dick Winters, spoke of a grandchild who asked, "Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?". His reply, softly spoken and through misty eyes, remembering his lost comrades, "No . . . but I served in a company of heroes".
If your child ever needs to write a report about a genuine American hero, there are more than three-hundred stories to choose from right here in Waltham. 
These boys from Waltham left home for the last time never to see another ball game or to open a Christmas gift or to blow out birthday candles or to see their children grow. They met the tides of history and of circumstance with courage, devotion and selfless determination.
Remember them and pray for them. Pray also for their beloved families who paid a terrible price in handing their souls over to eternity and pray that the cause for which they gave their lives will never be forsaken.
Revolutionary War
Abijah Brown, Jr. 
Abijah Childs 
Isaac Crosby 
Elijah Cutting 
Roger Dench 
Thomas Gardner
Civil War
Rufus Babcock 
William Baldwin 
Hiram Banks 
Theodore Barnes 
Orson Baxter 
John Blake 
George Brown 
Charles Brown 
Henry Burgess 
Henry Carr 
Joe Corrigan 
John Dillon 
Ed Doherty 
John Donnigan 
Henry Durivage 
Tom Egan 
Lyman Fairbanks 
George Falls 
Lyman Field 
Patrick Flynn 
John Gillespie 
B.S. Harrington 
David Hatch 
Ed Hatch 
William Hayes 
Ed Hickey 
Joseph Holbrook 
Maynard Holbrook 
Henry Howe 
Roger Kane 
George Lawton 
Thomas Lawton 
Michael McBride 
Patrick McGuire 
Francis Miles 
Leonard Miller 
Darius Moore 
James Murray 
John Newcomb 
James O'Hearn 
Anderson Posher 
Francis Priest 
Nahum Rand 
F.P.H. Rogers 
James Rooney 
Horace Sanderson 
Samuel Savage 
Robert Sherman 
Simon Smith 
Tom Stickney 
George Stone 
Daniel Sullivan 
Charles Traynor 
John Thayer
Spanish American War
George E. Adams 
James M. Dermody 
Edward P. Doherty 
Bernard M. Farrington 
Allen M. McCullough 
Charles Minnock 
Robert J. Parnell 
Dominick Walsh
World War I
Charles Bacon 
Charles Basile 
William B. Benner 
Joseph A. Bruce 
James B. Chadwick 
George A. Chisholm 
Raymond J. Collette 
Alexander G. Collins 
Francis D. Connors 
Joseph E. Cormier 
Thomas J. Courtney 
Charles T. Curtin 
Michael Devine 
Richard F. Dreyer 
Walter Duddy 
Allison H. Earle 
Louis H. Gorman 
Clifton P. Greene 
John P. Grogan 
Ernest Hamel 
Austin E. Harvey 
Leslie R. Hodge 
Rudolph Isaacson 
Walter T. Jensen 
Marcel Kwiatskowski 
James F. Lally 
John L. Lannigan 
Harold B. Leach 
Timothy Leary 
Thomas McDonald 
Frank J. McBride 
Charles F. McInnes 
Charles F. McKenna 
James McKernell 
Arthur V. Mogan 
Arthur P. Mooney 
Ernest D. Nealon 
Hiram S. Newman 
Bromly Palamountain 
Domenic Parise 
Fred C. Pearson 
Albert E. Regan 
Charles J. Rennie 
Charles A. Sawyer 
Joseph T. Sharpe 
W. Wellington Sullivan 
Stanley C. Swift 
John R. Thompson 
William A. Thompson 
Paul Underwood 
Franklin W. Vincent 
Walter A. Walsh 
James F. Walsh, Jr. 
Archie Wheeler 
Earl Whittemore 
Clifford H. Wilson
World War II
Guido J. Abruzzi 
Glen F. Allen 
Louis J. Annunciata, Jr. 
Raymond J. Arsenault 
Walter L. Baldwin 
Robert D. Balter 
Elmer J. Barden 
Francis A. Barnicle 
Samuel J. Barron 
Anselm L. Belliveau 
Richard K. Bills 
Leo J. Biron 
Edward H. Black 
John J. Bononi 
Leo A. Boucher 
William B. Boulton 
Gordon E. Bouret 
Gerald C. Breen 
Hollis E. Brodrick 
John S. Callahan 
Charles J. Carney 
Armand J. Casale 
Henry L. Castagnetti 
Robert L. Coleman 
Robert E. Collins 
Thomas F. Connors 
George E. Conant 
Frederick Cormier 
Joseph P. Coughlan 
James P. Cronin 
John P. Crossland 
Daniel F. Cushing 
John DeMatteo 
Americo D'Orazio 
Ronald B. Dorrington 
J. Clarence Doucette 
Frederick J. Dowcett, Jr. 
William R. Duane 
John M. Duffy, Jr. 
Harold C. Durkin 
Robert W. Elder 
S. Barton Eldridge 
Richard L. Felt 
Alfonse J. Ferrera 
Michael Ford 
William J. Forte 
Paul H. Frechette 
Harry Freedman 
John F. Furdon 
Charles R. Gallagher 
John B. Gordon 
Vaughn P. Grant 
Merrill Grapes 
Raymond E. Hadley 
Thomas R. Halleran 
Roy D. Halloran 
James T. Harron 
James F. Hart 
Raymond F. Healion 
Richard K. Henry, Jr. 
Glenn C. Hepler 
George E. Higgins, Jr. 
William R. Hitchcock 
William G. Houghton 
Herbert F. Ingersoll 
Bernard Jacobs 
Benjamin F. Jakubik 
Edwin E. Johnson 
Francis J. Joyce, Jr. 
Samuel Kaitz 
Phillip F. Keefe 
Henry J. Kelly, Jr. 
Donald K. Kenneson 
Robert A. Klug 
Francis H. Kneeland 
Philip A. Lanzo 
George H. Large 
Edward F. LaRosee 
Arthur J. Lazazzero 
William LeClair 
William H. Leonard 
Walter Luke 
Robert A. Lyons 
Joseph T. McCarthy 
Charles E. McCullough 
George E. McDonald 
Earl A. MacDougall 
Elmer J. McFarland 
Warren I. MacRae 
Joseph A. Madden 
Joseph P. Maguire 
John J. Mahoney, Jr. 
Vincenzo Mandile 
Robert C. Mansur 
John F. Maroney, Jr. 
Leonard M. Melanson 
Harold A. Meyer, Jr. 
John J. Minahane 
Donald M. Morrison 
John W. Murphy 
Joseph T. Murphy 
Lawrence J. Murphy 
Thomas E. Murphy 
Romeo A. Natoli 
Thomas P. Noone 
Sunda Palumbo 
Lester F. Patterson 
John P. Peirce, Jr. 
Francis P. Pendergast 
Edgar H. Peterson 
Salvatore Picone 
Francis J. Powers 
Warren B. Pratt 
George S. Purdy 
Robert A. Qualters 
Lawrence K. Reade 
Edward J. Recka 
Jerome Rizzo 
Rosario Rizzo 
Norman D. Robinson 
Lawrence L. Rogers 
John F. Ryan 
Frank Savino 
David E. Scott 
Homer Sewall, Jr. 
Arthur F. Shaughnessy 
Raymond P. Shaughnessy 
Harry E. Shubley, Jr. 
Ernest Seigel 
Robert A. Sloper 
Chadborn Smith 
Andrew Stanton 
William A. Stanton 
Edward C. Stearns, Jr. 
Maxwell D. Stone 
Christopher P. Straggas 
James J. Sullivan, Jr. 
Fred B. Sweetland 
Domenic G. Tambascia 
Edmund J. Thibeault 
Lloyd W. Wade 
Henry F. Walazek 
Harold G. Walley 
Leslie D. Walsh 
John H. Watson 
Roger R. Wellington 
Charles E. Yeo 
Kermit W. Youngquist 
Bernard A. Zacame, Jr.
Korea
Joseph P. Aucoin 
Frederick C. Berry, Jr. 
Norman C. Brackett 
William J. Burke, Jr. 
Donald O. Campbell 
Robert G. Curran 
Robert C. Dakin 
Joseph F. Hession, Jr. 
Robert W. Howard 
J. Allen Hurd 
Raymond R. LaCava 
Frederick E. Lamport 
James L. McDonnell 
John J. McLaughlin 
Richard S. Scalia
Vietnam
Lawrence R. Duffy 
Paul A. Dupere 
Reginald J. Gautreau 
Peter Gilmore 
David P. Ingersoll 
Thomas F. Jackson 
Paul C. King, Jr. 
Roderick J. McDonald 
Kenneth F. Moores 
Michael B. Murphy 
Thomas E. O'Neill, Jr. 
Joseph P. Rando 
John M. Sullivan 
Thomas J. Vezeau 
Craig W. Wedge 
Robert S. Wheeler
Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan
Brian J. Ouellette
May their memories be eternal.