Patriot Ledger
By Joe Difazio
QUINCY – Kevin McCarthy recalled an idyllic childhood growing up in Quincy’s Merrymount neighborhood, playing sports and Army games with two boys who would go on to become real-life generals and heroes.
While introducing his friend Gen. James McConville, the U.S. Army’s chief of staff, at a ceremony Saturday honoring the city’s veterans and generals on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, McCarthy said McConville took a piece of the South Shore to West Point at the beginning of his military career.
“Our neighborhood and the lessons we learned went with him,” McCarthy said. “Quincy went with him.”
Five men from Quincy who reached the rank of general spoke Saturday at an event unveiling Generals Bridge and Park, a new landscape in downtown Quincy honoring the city’s tradition of military service.
Five men from Quincy who reached the rank of general spoke Saturday at an event unveiling Generals Bridge and Park, a new landscape in downtown Quincy honoring the city’s tradition of military service.
Statues of Army Gen. James McConville; retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, former Joint Chiefs chairman; and retired Army Gen. Gordon Sullivan, former Army chief of staff, were unveiled in a plaza between Hancock Street and Burgin Parkway. The park sits at the corner of the newly named General Dunford Drive and General McConville Way.
The Generals Bridge spans the MBTA tracks to connect Burgin Parkway with Parkingway by extending Cliveden Street through the site of the former Ross garage.
Several hundred people attended the event, which celebrated Quincy pride, patriotism and the city’s men and women who served in the military.
“I’m proud to have the bridge here and the event honoring veterans,” said Paul Brennan, a retired Quincy firefighter and retired member of the U.S. Army.
The event featured a jetfighter flyover, a Massachusetts National Guard Howitzer salute, and tales of military exploits, growing up in Quincy and hard work in military careers and in blue-collar families that lived in the city over the years.
“We didn’t know that there were so many generals from Quincy,” said Louise Zhu. “We’re proud there are so many.”
McConville said he is often asked, “What’s in the water in Quincy?” that produces so many service members and leaders.
“What I tell them is ‘it’s not what’s in the water, it’s what’s in the people,'” McConville said. “People from Quincy are honorable. They are resilient. They’re hardworking patriots that are willing to serve their country. … I’m so proud to call Quincy my home.”
Sullivan said his family traces its roots in Quincy back to the late 1800s, coming from Scotland to work in the city’s granite industry. He also recognized the city’s contribution as the longtime home of the Fore River shipyard, which employed scores of veterans to build warships.
“Some of the best ships in the world were built in that shipyard,” Sullivan said. “That’s what Quincy did.”
Richard Stratton, a retired Navy captain, spoke about the service of the late Gen. Charles Sweeney, who flew the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II. Stratton spoke to a crowd that included some veterans of that war.
U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch credited Mayor Thomas Koch with the project and not letting Quincy forget its past and military service.
“It’s such a huge part of the history of Quincy. It’s remarkable how many general officers have come from Quincy and the role (the city) has played in shaping our country,” Lynch said. “Sometimes we take our history for granted, but not on Tom Koch’s watch.”
Lynch, who won a Democratic primary for Congress the same day as the Sept. 11 attacks, said he was feeling emotional on the 20th anniversary of the tragic day.
He said he was proud of the service of the men and women who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan in the yearslong combat that Sept. 11 sparked.
The Generals Bridge is set to open to traffic in the coming weeks, but the park is officially open.
In addition to the statues, the park displays busts of National Guard Maj. Gen. Francis McGinn, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Ronald Rand, Air Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Keefe and Sweeney. The names of 11 other generals from Quincy dating back to the 1700s have been engraved in the park’s commemorative stonework.
Construction of the bridge started in 2019 and is being paid for by the state Department of Transportation at an original cost of about $10.6 million. Progress on the bridge fell behind amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Associated roadwork in the newly improved area and construction of the new park near the bridge was paid for by the city at an estimated cost of $25 million. The money comes from the city’s district improvement financing program.
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