Rhode Island veteran speaks with ABC6 about significance of Memorial Day

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — While many of us gathered with family and friends this Memorial Day, for others, it was a day of mourning.

“It’s a day that a lot of people need to realize that people laid down their lives for the freedoms that we have today,” Rhode Island State Elks Association Veterans Chair Matt Vianna said.

Vianna said, while Memorial Day may just be a holiday for some, it’s a trying time for ‘Gold Star’ families who’ve lost a loved one in combat.

Many of those families visited the Boots on the Ground display in Newport over the Memorial Day weekend.

“You can imagine the somber feeling that they have, where they almost relive that experience again,” Vianna said. “It’s bad enough that they had to go through it the first time.”

Vianna said Memorial Day can be also be a difficult time for surviving veterans like him.

“When you’re young and you write your first will at the age of 17, and you experience that loss for the first time in your life, it makes it very real,” he said. “And you try to find the right ways to cope, and the ways to cope immediately are you kinda swallow it and you kinda just push on, and when you’re done pushing, that’s when the monsters come.”

Vianna said any veterans who are struggling should know they’re never alone, and there are many ways they can reach out for help.

“The VA is always there, the VFW, Vets Incorporated, Operation Stand Down, there’s a lot of organizations out there,” he said. “Reach out to one of those organizations, reach out to the Elks, we’ll help you guide, we have our expo coming up next Saturday. All those entities will be on the field that day, we can try and point you in the right direction.”

The Rhode Island Veterans Expo will be at Pierce Field in East Providence on May 31 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.