A Memorial Day tradition was restored at Waterside Cemetery Thursday as volunteers joined Marblehead’s Lt. David Ostrovitz in planting flowers at the graves of local police officers. The project is sponsored by MASS C.O.P. Local 437, Marblehead’s Police Union.
Led by Ostrovitz, volunteers — many of them graduates of the Marblehead Citizens Police Academy — worked together to locate and identify the graves of former Marblehead police officers buried throughout the historic cemetery.
“It’s a privilege to do this”, Lt. Ostrovitz stated. “It’s important that when these folks are no longer with us, we still remember their commitment — and that the families who are still here know their loved one’s sacrifice is acknowledged.”
“They gave up time with their families,” he added. “They worked long hours, strange hours, extra hours. That kind of commitment and sacrifice deserves to be remembered. Not every profession has somebody going out and remembering them 100 years later, 50 years later or even 20 years later. Their time here mattered. What they did — the profession they chose — mattered. You made a commitment to serving your community, and we’re not forgetting that.”
