Belmont Select Board hosts Purple Heart Day ceremony at Clay Pit Pond

2026 National Purple Heart Day in Belmont · Meeting of August 7, 2026

Belmont's Select Board and state officials marked National Purple Heart Day at the Clay Pit Pond veterans memorial. Select Board Chair Taylor Yates and Veteran Services Officer Bob Upton hosted the ceremony, joined by State Senator William Brownsberger, who read a proclamation Gov. Maura T.

Healey signed August 1 declaring August 7, 2026, Purple Heart Day in Massachusetts. Belmont Veterans Memorial Committee Chairperson Colonel Michael Calinan recognized Gold Star mother Pam Curtis, whose son Jonathan was killed in Afghanistan. Home Base's senior director of veterans services and peer support, identified only as "Bill," described his uncle Herbert Farmer's paralysis from a World War II shrapnel wound and said, "Service does not end when the uniform comes off.

It simply changes form." The ceremony closed with a communal singing of "God Bless America."

In the full story:

• Who Was There
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Source: the 2026 National Purple Heart Day in Belmont meeting of August 7, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.