Keep the Faith
A Message to my home town on Veterans Day
Next to my wife, my late father Al Dansereau, a Korean War Veteran, was the strongest person I’ve known. I’m grateful for Mayor Jeff Mutter and his office, the town of Cumberland Veterans Council and everyone I may have missed connected to the Monastery for allowing me to share a few words this Veterans Day about our dad.
In 1950, our father just out of high school at Mount St Charles was sent to Korea, a land he knew very little about. He served proudly overseas with the US Army 25th Infantry Division and when he returned home I believe he was forever impacted by those experiences.
He would tell me the Korean War was fought to stop communism from spreading to South Korea, which it did stop. Some 37,000 Americans lost their lives during the Korean War and over 92,000 were wounded and 8,000 were missing. South Korea sustained 1.3 million casualties, including 415,000 dead as well as countless other United Nations forces. Somewhere, lost in these numbers were his friends. He would always tell me he felt ‘so sore’ for the families of those men that were killed in Korea and to him, he did believe it was truly the ‘Forgotten War’.
The Korean War was the first major armed clash between Free World and Communist forces, as the so-called Cold War turned hot from 1950 to 1953. I learned this from the history books, but what little else my dad shared with me about his experiences, I had to piece together. I understood he was in places like Inchon Landing and involved in defending the Pusan Perimeter. I think these tough experiences he faced in war are where many of his classic one sentence saying he would use came from when we were looking for advice as kids when things would get tough.
He’d say ’Stand Pat’, (a.k.a. ‘dig in’ or ‘hold your ground’), ‘You Quit You Lose’, and ‘Inch by Inch it's a Cinch’. I’m sure that when orders came down from General MacArthur to stand or die in the Pusan Perimeter, his commanding officers would use these similar sayings to keep morale in check.
I think the one that sticks the most with my siblings and I however is “Keep the Faith”, the title of my message before you today.
From the little that he shared with me about his Army role, I later pieced together more detail and learned from a military historian he was most likely working with a unit of forward observers which meant he was responsible for identifying enemy targets on the battlefield and directing artillery fire onto them by communicating their location and target details to the fire support coordination center via radio, or essentially acting as the "eyes on the ground" for artillery units. This would explain the black and white tattered photos I have of him with a radio backpack next to him and maps spread out on the hood of an Army Jeep.
The historian also said this role would make them prime targets to be shot at by the enemy and perhaps this is why he didn’t speak much of what he had to do there. Growing up, I occasionally would hear him scream in his sleep, as I am sure he was haunted by some of the memories while he had served but he never sought medical help to treat this trauma. To him this was certainly not a forgotten war.
I also believe in some ways the part he played in building this memorial that we gather here around at the Monastery and benefit from in town was his way of giving back to those he served with that didn’t make it home. His way of being faithful to this country and his spiritual faith much in the same way it probably helped to keep him strong and helped him still BELIEVE in those cold winters spent ‘dug in’, in a trench in Korea.
Once he returned from service and landed back on US soil he never got on a plane again. But he continued to serve his country in other ways, in addition to lending his skills here in front of us he was steadfast about coming here to the Monastery each year for both the Memorial Day and Veterans Days ceremonies. Often on Memorial Day he would also get into his military gear after this service and head to Woonsocket for their Memorial Day parade with his fellow Veterans from the Woonsocket VFW where he was born and raised and affiliated. It was the only time I would see him in his Army green uniform aside from some black and white photos we now have as a memory of his service.
When he returned stateside he soon took to finding work in Woonsocket, where he became an apprentice and learned the skill of masonry. A skill he passed on to me, one that helped me pay my way through college by coming back from URI on weekends to work with him on his side jobs around town, and the same skill now I teach to my young adult children.
As a son of a bricklayer and one with military standards, you quickly learn that everything has to be built with a solid foundation and be ‘on the level’.
That’s why I placed his level today on the wall behind me because after nearly 40 years this foundation is still level and strong. That’s why I feel this monument behind us has lasted all these years, and I confess I’ve been sneaking back here over the years with my sons to make a few patches and repairs with his tools.
Although our dad spent much of his career laboring as a union bricklayer, I think when he eventually moved to Cumberland to start a family and later work for the town, his skills were really appreciated. I guess you could say for a time back in the 80s and 90’s he was the ‘unofficial’ town mason, but in fact, he wore many hats and he worked alongside many other town workers he called his friends. I remember over the years as a kid hearing stories about names you can’t forget like Eukie, Miles, Stanley, Frank to name a few. I am not sure who specifically also had their hands in this project but I do thank them all and for being a friend to my dad.
I remember on weekends when returning home to work with him, he’d share funny stories about these guys and we’d often swing by the Monastery so he could show me progress that had been made that week on this memorial.
There’s a saying on a monument here dedicated to the Veterans of the Korean and Vietnam Wars by the Cumberland Veterans Council erected back in 1972 that I admit I didn’t read back when I was younger. It reads:
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies we should find in each one’s life, sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility”
I think that would be the same message my dad would share if he were here today. Despite being told to stand up to fight for freedom, which he did honorably, he also had to deal with the stress of trying to understand the enemy and all of the fear, hatred, and rage of wartime.
Imagine trying to process this at 20 years old or as kids now in the present day have to do while watching the news and the turmoil in the US and abroad.
All these emotions, as I think of them now, are because at some level you hold a belief or you still care. Showing compassion is even a bigger strength and a power you can own instantly to help a neighbor or enemy. Showing compassion instead of reaching for one of the others like rage and anger is really what keeping the faith is about.
I often wonder what my father would feel about the divide in our nation today. He would have a hard time explaining to me why the star he wore on his Army uniform still meant just as much to him as the many stars that make up Old Glory and stand for a country, the United States, rather than divided. The same flag that many used to break things on January 6th.
He’d keep the faith and I’m sure he would keep it simple, he'd say when something is broken, step up and fix it. Help out more, look for handouts less. He’d probably make a masonry reference too, like bad weather brings stress on things and causes them to crack, split and weaken. But these deficiencies can be rebuilt, patched, re-leveled and so can relationships, so can a family, a community and even a nation as long as they are built on a solid foundation.
He’d also ‘Stand Pat’ and tell you America doesn’t have to be made great again, because it already is.
These have been my biggest lessons learned from my dad as I too try to keep the faith.
Building with cobbles was one of our dad’s specialties, he liked it because each one was different, just like the folks you stand next to here today. He said the imperfections in those cobbles gave the final form ‘character’ when they were finished and set in place and he would often stand back for a while and just look around proudly from different angles of what we had built together.
So look around you and see what we all share together, faith and hope and honor for this country- that is why we stand today united for our Veterans, the men and women who served and the families that have made the ultimate sacrifices.
Examples of what my dad had a hand in building are behind me and around town, they are behind you as well if you look off in the distance you’ll see another cobblestone ring like this one where he helped build an outdoor ice rink, as well as a memorial at the Boys and Girls Club in left field, and in other places throughout your neighborhoods.
In fact my daughter Ally (who is our dad’s namesake) recently bought her first home in town and across the street we learned my dad had built the neighbors walkway too.
In closing, although our father lost his battle with cancer and his hard working hands are now at rest, his body is buried at the RI Veterans Cemetery in Exeter, but his heart and soul remain here at this memorial in Cumberland. If he had a legacy it would be this monument and what it represented to him along with us, his children and grandchildren.
I feel his soul here each and every time I just come here to reflect. Each time my family walks past this area on a trail walk we smile and sometimes stop to sit and honor as we pass by.
I welcome you to stop by more frequently if you just come here for ceremonies, the Monastery is a beautiful place and I thank the town for preserving it this way and having this memorial welcome you as you enter. Someday soon I hope to build one of our dads benches and donate it to the town to be placed here, so you can all enjoy it too.
It is a special place and I hope this helps you understand why.
So, please KEEP THE FAITH.
Thank you to all our Veterans and their families.
We honor your service this day and every day.
David Dansereau
Son of a Korean War Veteran and a Bricklayer- Al Dansereau