Lincoln military veterans are invited to come together to form a new veterans’ group to have occasional meetings and perhaps a service project to advance a worthy veterans’ cause.
The group is open to all who have served in any of America’s five formal armed services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marines), including Reserves and National Guard.
Organizers need veterans to respond to news articles such as this one because they can’t easily be contacted as a group directly. Although residents’ veteran status is part of the information collected in the U.S. census, the Town Clerk is not permitted to release a list of those names.
“We don’t even know who they are in Lincoln—that’s why we’re putting out this word,” said retired Navy Capt. Tom Risser of Lincoln, a former flight surgeon who served in Iraq and one of the effort’s organizers.
Risser said he hoped to find more riflemen for the town’s annual Memorial Day celebration as well as a contingent of veterans to march in the parade that day and in Independence Day.
“That parade is getting smaller and smaller,” said Priscilla Leach, the town’s Veterans’ Service Officer, who helps connect veterans with services and apply for federal, state and local benefits (including property tax abatements).
Participation in the group will be entirely optional, and organizers guarantee there will be no solicitation for donations or activities that each vet doesn’t choose to make time for. Anyone who’s interested should contact one of the people in Lincoln below.
Tom Risser
thomas_risser@hms.harvard.edu
781-789-6253
Adam Hogue
Commanding Officer, 1166th Transportation Company, Massachusetts Army National Guard
adam.m.hogue@gmail.com
978-828-6184