thedrifter
12-19-06, 08:17 AM
Store's window space gives servicemen a salute
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | December 19, 2006
NEWTON -- Their faces are frozen in military photographs, the images of young men and women who peer from a store window with expressions of patriotism, hope, and determination.
The display has grown from one picture placed there after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a solitary reminder that Newton Upper Falls had a personal stake in the war.
"The next thing you knew, the kids from the neighborhood joined, and I started putting them in there," said the owner of Upper Falls Variety, Tom O'Shaughnessy, who added that about 20 photographs, a few obscured, have been arranged in the display.
Nearly everyone in the pictures is deployed or has served in Iraq or Afghanistan, most of their faces as familiar to O'Shaughnessy as the customers who begin showing up every morning at 5 for a cup of coffee, the newspaper, or a gallon of milk.
"A woman wanted to know the meaning of the window," O'Shaughnessy, 55, said. "And I just politely said it's a tribute to the kids in the service."
First in the window was a photograph of the owner's son, James O'Shaughnessy, who served four years in the Marines starting in 1999. He was not deployed to the Middle East.
Second up was Sean Blaisdell of Newton, a staff sergeant in the Air Force and O'Shaughnessy's nephew.
Then city workers, patrons, and even strangers asked for space in the window on Chestnut Street. And soon what had been an understated tribute expanded to a large display reminiscent of the home front during World War II.
Tom O'Brien, 24, a Marine corporal who spent nine months each in Iraq and Afghanistan, appreciates the gesture.
"It's great," said O'Brien, a member of the inactive reserve who lives in Needham. "It makes you feel that people remember you at home, and that's definitely a comforting feeling when you're not too close to being home."
Talk of the display reached to Afghanistan, where O'Brien said that he and another Marine from Massachusetts discovered, during a casual conversation, that they both were featured in the window.
For O'Brien's father, Joe, a Needham police detective, the display has been a point of pride and comfort for the family.
"It's a wonderful thing for this guy to be acknowledging these guys and girls who are giving their time," Joe O'Brien said. "You don't see a lot of that."
David Baker, co-owner of nearby Echo Engineering Group, agreed. "I think it's the proper show of respect," Baker said. "Everyone has the ribbons to stick on their cars, but that's easy. This takes time, and patience, and effort."
That effort is also applauded by Richard P. Fryar, a Newton city employee. A local news story about his son, an Iraq war veteran also named Richard, is taped to a prominent place on the window.
"I have my coffee there every morning about 7:15," said Fryar, who lives in Waltham. "Tom asked, 'Do you mind if I put that in the window,' and I said, 'Sure.' Tom's that kind of a guy."
Richard J. Fryar, an Army Reserve sergeant first class, was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in combat during the battle of Fallujah in 2004.
James O'Shaughnessy, who served in Okinawa, Japan, with the Marines and now works as a civilian carpenter, said the photo display reaps huge dividends.
"It let me know that even though I was far from home, that people think of you every day," said O'Shaughnessy, 28. "When you're away from home for so long, people miss their friends and family. When they do come home and see something like that, it really gives them a boost."
To barber Sol Cohen, who operates Ye Old Clip Joint a few yards away, the photographs reflect his shared respect for the area's soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen. On the wall of his barber shop, where he's been cutting hair for 40 years, is a T-shirt O'Brien sent from Iraq to his longtime barber. The shirt is covered with dozens of signatures from Marines that O'Brien collected in Afghanistan, including those of three who later were killed.
Including O'Brien, Cohen said he knows three-quarters of the servicemen and servicewomen in the photographs at Upper Falls Variety. "Ever since they were little babies," he added.
One of them, Army Reserve Captain David S. Connolly, died April 6, 2005, in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. A eulogy appears in the window.
"It's because of guys like that, that we can live like we live," O'Shaughnessy said. "Hopefully, I can dismantle my window at some point. If the boys come home, I'll return all the pictures to their rightful owners."
Ellie
By Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | December 19, 2006
NEWTON -- Their faces are frozen in military photographs, the images of young men and women who peer from a store window with expressions of patriotism, hope, and determination.
The display has grown from one picture placed there after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a solitary reminder that Newton Upper Falls had a personal stake in the war.
"The next thing you knew, the kids from the neighborhood joined, and I started putting them in there," said the owner of Upper Falls Variety, Tom O'Shaughnessy, who added that about 20 photographs, a few obscured, have been arranged in the display.
Nearly everyone in the pictures is deployed or has served in Iraq or Afghanistan, most of their faces as familiar to O'Shaughnessy as the customers who begin showing up every morning at 5 for a cup of coffee, the newspaper, or a gallon of milk.
"A woman wanted to know the meaning of the window," O'Shaughnessy, 55, said. "And I just politely said it's a tribute to the kids in the service."
First in the window was a photograph of the owner's son, James O'Shaughnessy, who served four years in the Marines starting in 1999. He was not deployed to the Middle East.
Second up was Sean Blaisdell of Newton, a staff sergeant in the Air Force and O'Shaughnessy's nephew.
Then city workers, patrons, and even strangers asked for space in the window on Chestnut Street. And soon what had been an understated tribute expanded to a large display reminiscent of the home front during World War II.
Tom O'Brien, 24, a Marine corporal who spent nine months each in Iraq and Afghanistan, appreciates the gesture.
"It's great," said O'Brien, a member of the inactive reserve who lives in Needham. "It makes you feel that people remember you at home, and that's definitely a comforting feeling when you're not too close to being home."
Talk of the display reached to Afghanistan, where O'Brien said that he and another Marine from Massachusetts discovered, during a casual conversation, that they both were featured in the window.
For O'Brien's father, Joe, a Needham police detective, the display has been a point of pride and comfort for the family.
"It's a wonderful thing for this guy to be acknowledging these guys and girls who are giving their time," Joe O'Brien said. "You don't see a lot of that."
David Baker, co-owner of nearby Echo Engineering Group, agreed. "I think it's the proper show of respect," Baker said. "Everyone has the ribbons to stick on their cars, but that's easy. This takes time, and patience, and effort."
That effort is also applauded by Richard P. Fryar, a Newton city employee. A local news story about his son, an Iraq war veteran also named Richard, is taped to a prominent place on the window.
"I have my coffee there every morning about 7:15," said Fryar, who lives in Waltham. "Tom asked, 'Do you mind if I put that in the window,' and I said, 'Sure.' Tom's that kind of a guy."
Richard J. Fryar, an Army Reserve sergeant first class, was awarded the Bronze Star for valor in combat during the battle of Fallujah in 2004.
James O'Shaughnessy, who served in Okinawa, Japan, with the Marines and now works as a civilian carpenter, said the photo display reaps huge dividends.
"It let me know that even though I was far from home, that people think of you every day," said O'Shaughnessy, 28. "When you're away from home for so long, people miss their friends and family. When they do come home and see something like that, it really gives them a boost."
To barber Sol Cohen, who operates Ye Old Clip Joint a few yards away, the photographs reflect his shared respect for the area's soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen. On the wall of his barber shop, where he's been cutting hair for 40 years, is a T-shirt O'Brien sent from Iraq to his longtime barber. The shirt is covered with dozens of signatures from Marines that O'Brien collected in Afghanistan, including those of three who later were killed.
Including O'Brien, Cohen said he knows three-quarters of the servicemen and servicewomen in the photographs at Upper Falls Variety. "Ever since they were little babies," he added.
One of them, Army Reserve Captain David S. Connolly, died April 6, 2005, in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan. A eulogy appears in the window.
"It's because of guys like that, that we can live like we live," O'Shaughnessy said. "Hopefully, I can dismantle my window at some point. If the boys come home, I'll return all the pictures to their rightful owners."
Ellie