The Kiwanis Club of Fairfield dedicated their fifth annual Field of Valor to honor our military veterans and those actively serving our country on November 7. This display of over 250 flags on Jennings Park will stand for a two week period following Veterans Day. 

Community members were invited to sponsor flags in honor of individual veterans with a $25 donation to Homes for the Brave; the remaining flags were placed in honor of all veterans. Fairfielders are invited to walk the Field of Valor, remember the service of veterans both known and unknown to them, and honor this “hallowed ground” until November 21. 

Richard Miller, President of the Kiwanis Club of Fairfield, acknowledged the partnerships that made the 5th year of this event possible. Area high school students from Notre Dame, Fairfield Warde, and Fairfield Ludlowe Key Clubs helped to assemble the flag display. Scouts from Fairfield Troop 82, many of them Ludlowe students, assisted in pounding the stakes. The proceeds from flag sponsorship will go to Homes for the Brave, a Bridgeport organization that provides housing, vocational training, and life skills coaching to individuals experiencing homelessness. Homes for the Brave has provided services to nearly 1350 individuals, mostly from the veterans community. 

Cindy Perham, a Fairfield Kiwanis member of 32 years, stood next to a flag honoring her father, Veteran Matthew Grabowski. Perham stated the passion of youth volunteers and her fellow Kiwanis members continues to motivate her in acts of civic engagement.

At the dedication ceremony, as I stood in a crowd of Fairfield residents both young and old, flanked by the Port 5 Association of Naval Veterans, I saw the event’s capacity to bring our community together. In an age of heightened divides, the observance of Veterans Day and the consecration of this Field of Valor reminds us of the call to national unity, to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

Reverend Peter Ciprani of Our Lady of the Assumption Church stated in his invocation the importance of “reclaiming each other as brother and sister,” comparing the intense love and sacrifice for one’s country to the iconic sports moment in 1980 when US Olympic Hockey player Jim Craig skated across the ice, draped in an American flag, looking for his father in the stands. This “miracle on ice,” as it became known in the American lingo, transcended the achievement of a gold medal and symbolized something deeper about the striving for family and national values over self. 

Veterans Day, a holiday observed since 1954, takes on particular significance this year in the wake of the United States’ military withdrawal from Afghanistan and with the passage of 20 years since 9/11. Today, as in previous wars, many veterans have faced challenges reintegrating into civilian life following their service. According to Representative Jennifer Leeper of the 132nd District in the Connecticut legislature, Fairfield has roughly 2,000 veterans.

World War II Veteran Peter Siconolfi, who served in the 11th Tank Battalion under US General Patton, shared keynote remarks during the ceremony. Siconolfi was decorated with numerous medals following his service including the Gold Conduct Medal. Siconolfi acknowledged in closing, “Now it’s up to the young to carry the torch. We’ve carried ours long enough.”

Following the dedication, I conversed with James and Wendy Muschett, the parents of Ludlowe alumnus Christopher Muschett who is actively serving in the 82nd Airborne Division of the US army. The Field of Valor from Fairfield Kiwanis—created by volunteers across generations—is a poignant reminder of how US veterans have immeasurably shaped our past and present, our history and the freedoms we experience each day as Americans. It is the service of elder veterans that continues to provide an example for the next generation, who carry on the torch to define the meaning of Veterans Day.