Bill Brett Boston

09/11/2026

Maura Wilkins Foundation

Danny “Budzo” Ryan Light Bearer Award Celebration

Honoring Martin J. Walsh

The event was hosted by

Executive Director Maribeth MacDonald

Co-Chaired by
Tom and Tricia O’Brien

Sold out crowd at: Granite Links, Quincy

09/10/2026

The Generals Gala dinner, honoring those recognized at the new
Generals Park, was held Friday, September 10, 2021, on the Hancock Adams
Common in Quincy Center. The benefit honored General Dunford’s
preferred charity, the Sempre Fi & Americas Fund. The official portraits, unveiled
that evening, are by Quincy artist David Wang.

Portraits, from left:
Major General Charles W. Sweeney
Major General Francis M. McGinn
General James C. McConville
General Joseph F. Dunford Jr.
General Gordon R. Sullivan
Brigadier General Ronald T. Rand
Captain Richard A. Stratton
Major General Stephen P. Keefe, Jr.

09/09/2026

FREEMAN K. JOHNSON

Johnson was expecting a cake and little else; instead,
On his 105th birthday on March 11, 2025, Freeman
most of the Barnstable Adult Community Center in
Hyannis and dozens of others turned out to celebrate
the oldest survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.
Born in Springfield and raised in Waltham, Freeman is the oldest
of the last thirteen survivors of the Pearl Harbor attack. After high
school, Freeman attended Massachusetts Maritime Academy for
two years, and after graduation in 1939, he joined the U.S. Navy.
He completed boot camp at Newport, Rhode Island, and then was
assigned to the USS St. Louis, which was docked in Pearl Harbor
waiting on repairs. Freeman was in the boiler room on the bottom
of the ship when the Japanese attack began. All he saw during the
entire attack was the back of a steam room, he said, adding that he
could hear the vibrations as the USS Arizona and the USS Oklahoma
were being fired on.
Because it was moored at the end of the pier, the St. Louis was up
and underway in less than forty minutes. The ship, now nicknamed
the “Lucky Lou” went out to sea searching for the Japanese fleet.
The attack, on the morning of December 7, killed more than 2,400
Americans, destroyed hundreds of planes, and crippled a fleet of
eight battleships. This was pretty much the beginning of Freeman’s
six years in the Navy.
In 1943, Freeman transferred to the East Coast to help com-
mission the USS Iowa in Norfolk, Virginia. The crew removed
all ammunition from the ship, built an elevator, and installed a
bathtub. When ready, the USS Iowa traveled up the Potomac River
to pick up President Roosevelt and sail across the Mediterranean to
Morocco, the first leg of the journey to meet with Winston Churchill
and Joseph Stalin before moving up to the Tehran Conference in
November of 1943.
After returning the president to Washington D.C., the Iowa
steamed to Okinawa to participate in the battle in September of
1945. The Iowa was close enough to the USS Missouri that Freeman,
halfway up a lookout mast, witnessed the Japanese surrender, which
took place on the deck of the Missouri.
Freeman was then discharged after serving honorably for six
years, and returned to Waltham, where he worked at the W.H.
Nichols machine company until retirement.

Featured in my new book,

Boston Veterans Appreciation

You can order the new book at mycitygear.com

09/09/2026

09/08/2026

ROSARIO C. SANTORO

brothers were known as “the
Charlie Santoro and his seven
Fighting Santoro Brothers” for
their service in World War II.
He grew up in Medford in a large family
and joined the Navy in January 1944. After
boot camp at Sampson Naval Training
Center in New York, Charlie was shipped
to the Pacific where he was assigned to an
LDT (landing craft tank) hauling troops,
supplies and equipment to different islands
in the Philippines.
Charlie served as a gunner’s mate when
Japanese aircraft attacked the convoy his
ship was in, but, luckily, his ship was not hit
and went on to complete their mission of
evacuating Australian prisoners of war.
The other “fighting” brothers also served
with honor. Charlie’s brothers Leo and
Harry served with the Coast Guard in the
North Atlantic, John served in France with
an Army unit, Joe, a U.S. Marine with the
First Marine Division had made the first
landing of the Pacific War on Guadalcanal.
Thomas fought in New Guinea with an Army
unit, surviving several bouts of malaria.
Paul fought in Burma along with Merrill’s
Marauders, and James, the seventh brother,
served with the Coast Guard Auxiliary along
the New England coast. The family was hon-
ored by the city of Medford with a marker in
front of their childhood home at the corner
of Wheeler Avenue and Bow Street.
Photo courtesy Rosario Santoro estate
After the war, Charlie was a school bus
driver in Brookline and later had a long career
with a transportation company in Boston. He
was able to take part in a trip to Washington,
D.C., with Honor Flight New England in April
2017, as a veteran of World War II, to tour the
memorials and monuments in honor of their
service to their country.
Charlie, a resident of Quincy for many
years, died on June 27, 2023. His survivors
include his wife of seventy-five years,
Bernadette R. (Mirisola). In his retirement,
Charlie enjoyed many hobbies such as
gardening, playing his vintage 78 rpm opera
records, and spending time with his wife
and family.

Featured in my new book,

Boston Veterans Appreciation

You can order the new book at mycitygear.com

09/07/2026

A good man and a dear friend. You will be missed.

View John "Chick" Ciccolo's obituary, send flowers, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

09/04/2026

Richie Gormley has been
West Roxbury area for many years.
As owner and operator of the
Gormley Funeral Home in West Roxbury,
Richie has made substantial contributions
to the community and the heritage he loves.
He served in the 1st Marine Division in
Da Nang, Vietnam, where he was awarded
the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross for
combat action. His other awards and com-
mendations include the National Defense
Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal,
Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Combat
Action Ribbon.
After returning from Vietnam, Richie
attended the New England Institute of
Anatomy, where he obtained his funeral
director and embalmer license. He is a mem-
ber of the Massachusetts Funeral Directors
Association, the National Funeral Directors
Association, and the Irish Association of
Funeral Directors.
Richie has served as an elected com-
mander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars
Post 2902 in West Roxbury, a member of
American Legion Fogg-Roberts Post 78
in Hyde Park, the Silver Star Disabled
American Veterans, and the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery Company of
Massachusetts.
His other memberships and affiliations
include B.P.O.E. Knights of Columbus 3049,
Irish Holy Ghost Committee, St. Theresa's
Usher Club, St. Vincent de Paul Society,
the County Leitrim Society, and sergeant-
at-arms of the Boston Irish Social Club.
He is also a past president of the County
Roscommon Association of Boston, a former
director of the Irish Cultural Centre, and
served as a director of the Roxbury-Highland
Bank for more than twenty years.
Richie has sponsored numerous athletic
teams, including the Tigers of the Parkway
Little League and the Gormley Club of the
Parkway Soccer League, which named him
man of the year in 2003. He was named per-
son of the year by the Boston Police Emerald
Society in 2005, and in 2012, he was elected
Mayor of West Roxbury.
Governor Charles Baker appointed him
to serve on the Massachusetts Veteran
Advisory Committee and also appointed
him to the Division of Licensor for
Funeral Directors and Embalmers for the
Commonwealth. President Donald J. Trump
invited Richie to the White House on St.
Patrick’s Day for a ceremony.

Featured in my new book,

Boston Veterans Appreciation

You can order the new book at mycitygear.com

09/03/2026

RICHARD E. HOYT, SR.
and RICHARD E. HOYT, JR.

Hoyt,” Dick and Rick Hoyt, a
Known to millions as “Team
father-and-son tandem, com-
peted in many marathons, with
Dick pushing Rick in a specially designed
wheelchair in more than 1,100 races.
The duo competed in the Boston
Marathon thirty-two times, running the race
nearly every year from 1980 through 2014.
In 2013, Dick and Rick were honored with a
bronze statue on Hopkinton town common,
near the race’s starting line.
They were also the first duo to complete
the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii in 1988.
Dick and Rick biked and ran across America,
covering 3,735 miles in forty-five consecutive
days in 1992.
“When my dad and I are out there on a
run, a special bond forms between us,” Rick
told The New York Times in 2009.
Rick’s first taste of road racing came
in 1977, when he asked to participate in a
charity run benefiting a paralyzed lacrosse
player. He wanted to show the athlete that
he, a quadriplegic teenager, was still active
despite the challenges he faced.
Dick, who lived in the town of Holland in
western Massachusetts, died unexpectedly
at his home on March 17, 2021. He was 80
years old. Because of COVID-era restric-
tions, funeral services were private.
Rick, who had cerebral palsy and was
unable to move his limbs or speak, died
on May 22, 2023, from complications with
his respiratory system at an assisted living
facility in Leicester. He was 61.
Born in Wi******er, Dick was raised and
attended school in North Reading and grad-
uated from North Reading High School. He
served for thirty-five years in the Air National
Guard and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
“I was running for Rick, who longed to
be an athlete but had no way to pursue
his passion,” Dick wrote in his 2010 book,
Devoted: The Story of a Father’s Love for His
Son, written with Don Yaeger and published
in 2010. “I wasn’t running for my own
pleasure. I was simply loaning my arms and
legs to my son.”

Featured in my new book,

Boston Veterans Appreciation

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09/02/2026

JOSEPH FINN (center), BRANDON FINN, SEAN FINN,
and CHRISTOPHER CONLEY

Retired Boston Fire
Commissioner and Chief of
Department Joe Finn spent
nearly four decades in the
department. He retired in 2020 after five
years of leading the city’s fire service.
In addition to his work on fire safety in
Boston, Joe has been an outspoken advocate
for eliminating the cancer-related deaths of
firefighters in line of duty injuries nationally.
“It’s been my honor to lead and work
with the dedicated uniform and civilian
staff of the Boston Fire Department,” Joe
wrote in a social media post. “I’ll miss the
great support we receive in the neighbor-
hoods, but know that the men and women
who make up the B.F.D. are the best, highly
trained professionals who serve with
distinction and compassion.”
Joe graduated from Don Bosco
Technical High School in 1978, enlisted in
the Marine Corps in April 1979, and was
honorably discharged in April 1982. He
served a year in Okinawa and rotated
back to Camp Lejeune, where he served
with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines. He was
appointed to the Boston Fire Department
on October 31, 1984.
Joe’s sons, Brandon and Sean Finn, were
born and raised in Quincy and attended
Catholic Memorial High School. Brandon
graduated in 2009, and Sean in 2012. Both
enlisted in the Marine Corps upon graduation.
After boot camp, Brandon was assigned
to HMLA-469, a Light Attack Helicopter
Squadron, and from June 2010 to
September 2010, he participated in a RIM/
PAC aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard.
He was honorably discharged in October
of 2012 and was appointed to the Boston
Fire Department in February of 2013,
promoted to lieutenant in February of 2020,
and serves on Ladder 4 in Roxbury.
Sean, after completing boot camp, was
assigned to 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine
Regiment at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
He deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 as part
of Operation Enduring Freedom. After
returning from Afghanistan, he was part of
a UDP to Japan in 2015. He was honorably
discharged in early 2016 and appointed to
the Boston Fire Department in October
of 2016. He is assigned to Ladder 19 in
South Boston.
Christopher Conley,
Joe’s nephew and Brandon and
Sean’s cousin, was born and
raised in Dorchester. Chris
graduated from Boston Collegiate Charter
School in 2007. He enlisted in the Marine
Corps that same year. After boot camp, he
was assigned to 2nd Amtracs at Camp
Lejeune, North Carolina.
He deployed to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2008
as part of Operation Continuing Promise.
During his deployment, Chris was noti-
fied that his mother, Traffic Supervisor
Marie J. Conley, was struck by a car while
shielding a young student from the Mather
school from a fast-approaching motorist.
Marie was gravely injured. Chris was able
to make it back from Iraq before his mother
succumbed to her injuries.
After the funeral services, Chris
returned to Iraq and completed his deploy-
ment. Marie is the recipient of the 2011
Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s
“Citizen Before Self Honor’s Award.” Chris
was honorably discharged in May of 2011.
He was appointed to the Boston Fire
Department in February 2013 and serves on
Ladder 7 in Dorchester.
Military service runs in the Finn and
Conley families with grandfathers who
served during World War II. Brandon, Sean,
and Chris’s grandfather, Paul L. Finn, served
in the Navy in the North Atlantic. Brandon
and Sean’s maternal grandfather, Maurice
J. Kelly, served in the Navy in the South
Pacific. Chris’s paternal grandfather William
B. Conley served in the Army in World War
II and is the recipient of the Purple Heart.
Joe’s late brother, Robert Finn, also served
in the Marine Corps from 1969 to 1971, and
a nephew, Brendan Finn, served in the Army
from 2011 to 2016, deploying to Afghanistan
and Kuwait.

Featured in my new book,

Boston Veterans Appreciation

You can order the new book at mycitygear.com

09/01/2026

288 golfers attended the Lee Kennedy Golf Fundraiser at Pine Hills Golf Course in Plymouth. And presented a check for $161,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Dorchester.