Leominster Park To Be Dedicated To Fallen Soldier
LEOMINSTER (CBS) - After years of hard work a family is ready to dedicate a tribute to a fallen soldier. It's a park that will honor the sacrifice he and so many other Massachusetts soldiers have made for our country.
You'll have to wait for the statue unveiling, but not for the tears of a proud father.
"He's a bigger man than I'll ever be," John Roberge says. "I could never walk in his shoes."
He's talking about his son, of course, Army PFC Jonathan Roberge.
"He told me, one of the last things he said to me was 'mom I just want to make a difference,'" Pauline Roberge says.
PFC Roberge was trained to drive a tank, but in February 2009 he was driving a Humvee in Mosul, Iraq when it was hit by a roadside bomb.
It was his death that inspired this, Johnny Ro Veterans Park in Leominster, a project six years in the making.
"I guess the whole time I was building it I didn't know what I was building," John Roberge said.
Spearheaded by dad, but made possible by countless volunteer ideas and hours, not to mention $180,000 in donations.
"One of the elementary schools in the town did a penny drive," said Diane Beaudoin, who is on the park committee. "The kids collected $1,000 for us."
"We can't thank them enough," says Pauline Roberge. "We can never ever thank them enough for their support and their love."
The surplus tank came from a National Guard base in North Carolina.
A rock memorial to Johnny Ro and four comrades who died that day is almost identical to the original overseas.
And the replica blast walls are inscribed with the names of all Bay Staters who've died in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and includes all their pictures.
"All of the other men and women that gave their lives did the same thing Jonathan did, and they weren't looking for recognition, they were just doing their job," John Roberge says.
He admits he's a cauldron of emotion when he walks the acre, but he hopes others will visit to honor the fallen. "None of us know what these soldiers go through every day," he says.
Come Saturday, this father's dream will get a proud face.
The park is on Mechanic Street right at the intersection of Johnny Appleseed Lane -- where Roberge grew up.
The dedication ceremony is at one o'clock Saturday afternoon, Sunday if it rains.