< Back to front page Text size +

Nahant re-creates 1919 parade scene with Boy Scouts pulling World War I weapon in a wagon

May 25, 2009 12:56 PM

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

NAHANT -- Hundreds of residents in this scenic seaside town lined Nahant Road this morning for the annual Memorial Day parade, which featured a World War I machine gun in a bunting-draped red wagon pulled by three Boy Scouts, re-creating a scene from the town's victory parade for returning soldiers in 1919.

The gun, which famed war hero Alvin York seized from the Germans in a legendary raid, was brought to Nahant by a native who had snatched it as a souvenier. The gun had vanished from public view for years until it was stumbled upon in the attic of the town library.

The library is giving the gun to a musuem in Tennessee, York's home state, for a $10,000 donation.

"This is its farewell tour," said library trustee John Welsh. "A victory lap."

Perched on their parents' shoulders, 2-year-old twins Alyson and Kaitlyn Lehman gazed in awe at the twirling batons and the rat-a-tat drums, their eyes big as saucers. They marveled at the kilt-clad bagpipers, and the shiny, old-timey cars carrying old men with medals on their uniforms. And they smiled and waved their flags at the big red fire engines, and the firefighters inside who waved back.

"Say hi to the chief, girls" their father, Bob Lehman, a Lynn firefighter who grew up in Nahant. "Say 'Hi, Lieutenant.'"

"Good morning, girls," the men said, smilng as they rolled slowly by.

E-mail this article

Invalid email address
Invalid email address

Sending your article

Your article has been sent.

On the Beat

Reporter John R. Ellement is covering the arraignment today of a man charged as an accessory after the fact in a fatal stabbing in Brighton.
John R. Ellement
TALK TO US
breakingnews@globe.com | Twitter | 617-929-3100

Editor's Choice

A day in the life of a pandemic

A day in the life of a pandemic

A look behind the state's effort to divvy up the vaccine to health providers reveals a task that is equal parts science and art, and supply and demand.
Losing ground

Losing ground

Civil War re-enactors are forced to cancel events because they no longer have battlefields to stage them.
MORE

From Today's Globe

MORE BLOGS

White Coat notes
Overweight men with prostate cancer have a higher risk of dying Men who are overweight when they have locally advanced prostate...
Articles of Faith
Questions on Communion and swine flu The big news of the week on the Boston religious...
A report on people from Boston who are making an impact in the world, and on people from abroad doing noteworthy things here.
Mediating in Iraq, with Boston's help Conflict Management Group, a non-profit based in Cambridge, has been...
Brandeis installing swath of solar panels In a few weeks, the Gosman Center at Brandeis University...
archives

LOCAL BLOGS

BOSTON AREA

Universal Hub

A collection of writing from hundreds of Boston-area bloggers.

The Chinatown Blog

Stories and events related to Boston's Chinatown and the Asian American community in Massachusetts

CommonWealth Magazine

Politics, ideas, and civic life in Massachusetts

Red Mass Group

News and commentary about Massachusetts and beyond

Blue Mass Group

Politics in Massachusetts and around the nation

Boston 1775

History, analysis, and unabashed gossip about the start of the American Revolution.
COLLEGE NEWSPAPER SITES

The Berkeley Beacon

The weekly student newspaper at Emerson College

The Daily Collegian

The student newspaper of UMass-Amherst.

The Daily Free Press

The independent student newspaper at Boston University

The Harvard Crimson

The nation's oldest continuously published daily college newspaper.

The Heights

The independent student newspaper of Boston College

The Huntington News

The independent student newspaper of Northeastern University

The Suffolk Voice

Suffolk University's student-run 24-hour online news resource

The Tech

MIT's oldest and largest newspaper

The Tufts Daily

The independent student newspaper of Tufts University