Memorial Day in Barrington, Rhode Island, where Legal Insurrection is based, was taranished by a gross and vindictive politicization of the holiday by the progressive Town Council.
The Memorial Day Parade had been run for 68 years by the Barrington United Veterans Council (BUVC), but that leadership was pulled in retaliation for the BUVC, particularly its President Retired Lt. Col. Paul Duchilos, objecting to the Black Lives Matter flag being flown on the town flagpole over the Veterans Memorial. The BUVC opposed all political cause flags in that location, but the Town Council was particularly obsessed with the BLM flag. We covered the dispute in great detail in March 2022, Veterans Group Alleges Retaliation For Opposing Flying BLM Flag Over Barrington (RI) Veterans Memorial.
The BUVC nonetheless honored its tradition of holding a Memorial Day commemorance, but the town went ahead on its own using a special extra budget allocation and town employees to organize a parade to start right after the Council’s event. I didn’t attend the town parade, but from videos posted online it seems that some of it was inappropriate for a Memorial Day parade, including throwing candies to passers-by, blowing bubbles, and theme t-shirts. Not having organized a Memorial Day Parade before, perhaps the Town Council confused it with the 4th of July.
The BUVC event was dignified and very appropriate for the solemnity of the day. There were over 100 people present, and the ceremonies included what you would expect: The raising and lowering of the American flag, the reading of the names of Barrington residents who died in various wars, and various statements and reflections.
But by far the star of the show was World War II veteran Benny Chelo, who turns 100 this week.
Lt. Col. (Ret.) Paul Dulchinos, President of the Council, made the introduction, followed by comments from Chelo:
Dulchinos: “… The Barrington United Veterans Council was formed in 1954 and has faithfully led Memorial day observances for the past 68 years, rain or shine. However, before you proceed this [wreath laying] ceremony today, I’d like to pause for a moment to recognize a distinguished special guest. He is a World War II, Coast Guard Navy veteran, who will turn 100 years old on June 4th. He was assigned to the USS LST 202 tank landing ship and participated in several combat landing missions and support of U.S. military operations in the Asiatic Pacific theater during the war. A Barrington resident since 1972. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Benny cello, please come forward ….Benny Chelo: “…. Let’s just say I’m Albanian, mother and father Albanian came here to America. Couldn’t even talk English. Okay. Now born and raised in the Rhode Island, never been out of it and along came the war… I’ve never been out Rhode Island. Can you imagine going across America by train all the way across the Pacific above Australia, New Guinea from south all the way up the coast, all the way to the Philippines ending up and I saw Hiroshima, you won’t like it all. And then back home. I’m here because I was in the right place at the right time. And I was in the company of better people, way better than myself.”Lt. Col. (Ret.) Paul Dulchinos: “That’s America’s story, right there.”
As we do on every Memorial Day, we also remember Mike Spann, Roslyn Schulte, Jonathan Porto, Billie Taylor Presson, Christopher David Horton, the Cornell Class of 1944, and the other fallen, known and unknown.
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