By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
Vietnam veteran Gerald “Jerry” Cafferty will serve as the grand marshal of the city’s Memorial Day parade when it steps off at 10:30 a.m. May 27.
Cafferty, who turns 75 on May 20, will lead the more than 40-unit procession of veterans, dignitaries and bands along the 1.5-mile parade route, which follows Campbell Avenue from Captain Thomas Boulevard to Center Street.
An Army veteran who served a tour of duty in the Vietnam War, he embraced the recognition with typical grace and humility.
“It’s a great honor, a real honor,” Cafferty said on receiving the grand marshal nod. “I’m a behind-the-curtains type of person.”
Cafferty was chosen by the Veterans Council, which helps the city organize the annual parade, for his years of service to the military, his fellow vets and his community, the latter of which is the cornerstone of the qualifications for grand marshal, council President Dave Ricci said.
“First and foremost, I want to thank Jerry Cafferty and all other veterans for their brave service to our nation and for providing us with our greatest liberty: freedom,” Borer said. “Memorial Day is a time to reflect on those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all Americans.”
Borer continued: “West Haven is not only proud of our service members but is proud to be the home of the West Haven VA Medical Center, which has provided quality health care to thousands of veterans who deserve great care. We also boast the largest veterans and military museum in the state of Connecticut, so that across generations, residents can learn of the great sacrifice of the brave men and women who risked their lives so that we can be the greatest country.
“I hope you will join us at the parade and at the wreath ceremony that follows, so that we together will let the families and friends of those who lost their lives know that they will never be forgotten.”
The 2024 edition of southern Connecticut’s oldest and largest Memorial Day parade has no rain date and will feature three marching divisions and a military division, as well as special accommodations for disabled veterans.
The procession will include an eight-seat golf cart carrying former grand marshals that is bedecked with a star gracing the names of those deceased. Other veterans will ride on a float.
It will also include a flyover by a C-130 Hercules, a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft operated by the Connecticut Air National Guard.
Cafferty will steer the procession from a golf cart flanked by the West Haven Police Honor Guard.
The 90-minute parade, in memory of the deceased members of the U.S. armed forces of all wars, will showcase the city’s legion of veterans groups.
The procession will include bands from West Haven High and Bailey Middle schools, along with the Notre Dame High School Drum Line, the Stylettes Drill Team and Drum Corps, and the New Haven County Firefighters Emerald Society Pipes & Drums.
It will include cheerleaders from the West Haven Seahawks, members of the West Haven High School dance team and Jeeps from the Connecticut Beach Cruisers, as well as bands from the Rock House School of Music.
The procession will also spotlight the traditional contingent of youth organizations and sports leagues, dance troupes and Scout troops, fraternal organizations and service clubs, local and state leaders, police officers and firefighters.
Cafferty was born to James and Loretta Cafferty and raised on Third Avenue in West Haven with his two brothers and two sisters.
His father worked as a clerk at the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co. His mother stayed home to raise the family’s five children, all of whom attended St. Lawrence School.
Just over a year after graduating from West Haven High, Cafferty was drafted by the Army in July 1969 at age 19. He completed basic training eight weeks later at Fort Dix, New Jersey, followed by 10 weeks of advanced training as a medical corpsman at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio in preparation for Vietnam.
Beginning Jan. 13, 1970, Cafferty was based out of Camp Evans, northwest of the coastal city of Hue in central Vietnam and near the demilitarized zone.
He served as a medic with Company C, 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division and participated in the Battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord, the last major battle of the Vietnam War between U.S. ground forces and the North Vietnamese army.
The 23-day offensive took place in July 1970 outside of the A Shau Valley, southwest of Camp Evans.
In addition to giving first aid in combat, Cafferty fought alongside his company’s infantrymen on Hill 902, just over a mile south of Ripcord, to help protect the mountaintop artillery fire support base.
Cafferty received several U.S. military decorations for valor in combat, including the Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
The battle was chronicled by author Keith W. Nolan in the 2000 book, “Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970,” and by director Shannon Lanier in the 2012 film, “The Battle of Ripcord.”
The book contains a prominent quote from Cafferty: “Those sappers were good. They were inside the perimeter before anyone knew it, and they knew exactly what to hit.”
Cafferty was also interviewed about the battle by a producer of “War Stories With Oliver North,” the retired Marine Corps lieutenant colonel’s military history program on Fox News. He appeared in Episode 43, “The Siege of Firebase Ripcord,” which aired March 7, 2004.
After serving his tour of Vietnam — 12 months, followed by a one-month extension — Cafferty was honorably discharged as a specialist 4 on Feb. 10, 1971. He also received the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, a South Vietnamese military campaign medal for support of operations in Vietnam after 1960.
The Vietnam War is a story of patriots who pushed through jungles and rice paddies, heat and monsoon, fighting heroically to preserve the ideals and liberties that Americans hold dear.
From la Drang to Hue, U.S. troops won every major battle of Vietnam. Through more than a decade of combat over air, land and sea, they upheld the highest traditions of the armed forces. And more than 58,000 sacrificed all they had and all they would ever know in service to their country.
After the Army, Cafferty worked for the Postal Service as a clerk in New Haven and Wallingford until his retirement in 2009.
He is a longtime member of Disabled American Veterans.
Cafferty and his wife, Penny, have been married for 52 years and have two daughters and a son and seven grandchildren.
The couple like to travel and to visit with their grandchildren in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Army veteran Gerald “Jerry” Cafferty kneels beside the granite U.S. Army insignia marker and the granite map of Vietnam’s four battle districts at the West Haven Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Bradley Point Park on May 6. Cafferty, who served in the Vietnam War in 1970-71, will lead the city’s Memorial Day parade as the grand marshal when it steps off at 10:30 a.m. May 27 along Campbell Avenue.
Carol Cafferty says
Wish John and I could be there! What a honor. Congratulations Jerry! We are all very proud of your service.!!😊😊🎈💕
Mark Levine says
A well deserved honor for Jerry to be the Grand Marshal at this years Memorial Day Parade in West Haven. Congratulations my friend.