The Select Board voted unanimously to designate Marblehead as a Purple Heart town and install related signage by four roadways.
Teresa Collins, the founder of Wreaths Across America in Marblehead, proposed that four signs reading “Purple Heart Town” be erected by the entrances to the town on Atlantic Avenue, Humphrey Street, Tedesco Street, and Lafayette Street. She said the signs have already been approved by the Department of Transportation.
The signs were designed and purchased by Collins. She wrote to Gov. Maura Healey’s office and received a proclamation of Marblehead as a Purple Heart community from her office.
She has also arranged for national recognition of Marblehead as a town along the Purple Heart Trail, “which accomplishes the honorary goal of creating a visual reminder to those who use the road system that others have paid a high price for the freedom we enjoy to live and travel in a free society.”
Collins said there are an estimated 1.9 million service members who have been awarded the Purple Heart. She said no accurate or complete record has been maintained of its recipients.
By proclaiming Marblehead as a Purple Heart town, she said the town can do more than just remember and honor service members “for their meritorious actions.”
“We are also fostering an environment where we can teach future generations the value of freedom and encourage them to learn and share these stories of service and sacrifice,” Collins said.
Neighboring communities on the Purple Heart Trail include Salem, Swampscott, Beverly, and Danvers. She said that of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, 121 are on the national Purple Heart Trail list.
The board also voted unanimously to display a veterans sign honoring Cpl. William F. Farry on the traffic island at the intersection of Pleasant and Lafayette streets.
Collins purchased the sign for Farry as well. While doing research for Wreaths Across America, she said she came across his story.
“It was just one of the fascinating stories of veterans laid to rest in this town and I was compelled to shine a light on this forgotten soldier,” Collins said.
Farry, who was a resident of the town, died of pneumonia in France during World War I.
“I am eternally grateful for the Select Board’s unanimous vote of approval to make Marblehead a Purple Heart town, recognizing our combat-wounded veterans and those killed in action,” Collins said after the board’s meeting. “Truly a momentous moment in Marblehead history.”
