PORTSMOUTH — Joan Paquette said she never realized how important it was to remember and pay tribute to veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice until her own brother put on a uniform.

Thankfully, John J. Welsh, a major in the Army Reserves who served in Iraq, is safely back home in Meriden, Conn. But her brother’s time in Bagdad gave Ms. Paquette a new appreciation for the military.

Ms. Paquette, who was front and center during Project Blue Star’s Memorial Day ceremony and wreath-laying this morning at the World War I Monument in front of Portsmouth Town Hall, made sure everyone knew how grateful she was for the event.

“Thanks to all of you, for always reminding us to come together so we never forget,” said Ms. Paquette.

The organizer of the fourth annual event was her friend, Carolyn Evans-Carbery, whom attendees praised for her longstanding efforts in recognizing veterans, such as her work in gettting a Project Blue Star memorial installed outside the Portsmouth Free Public Library.

Town Council Vice President James Seveney, who said Memorial Day “is all about those veterans who didn’t make it home,” told the small gathering that the event wouldn’t have taken place without Ms. Evans-Carbery.

“She does this on her own,” he said.

Ms. Evans-Carbery said she was proud to do the honors. 

“It’s an organization of one, and I hope it makes a difference,” she said.

Ms. Evans-Carbery also reminded everyone to tour local cemeteries, which bear the names of soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, as well as of veterans from 20th- and 21st-century conflicts.

She displayed photos of tombstones and special markers on gravesites behind St Paul's Episcopal Church — the final resting place of Portsmouth’s Capt. David Gifford, who fought in the 1st Regiment of Rhode Island during the Revolutionary War.

“I just ask you to look around. There are Civil War people and others buried here,” she said.

Prayers were offered by Carlton Johnson and Michael Nott of VFW Post 5390, which is hosting its own Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 30, at 10 a.m.

The ceremony concluded with bugler Richard Ashmore paying “Taps.”

Honor roll plans

Mr. Johnson and Ms. Evans-Carbery briefly discussed plans to move the Portsmouth Honor Roll inside Town Hall to a different place with more wall space. 

Along with other volunteers, they received approval from the Town Council recently to move the honor roll to a more suitable spot and possibly using a wide-screen television monitor to display veterans’ names in the future.

Ms. Evans-Carbery said the library and the Portsmouth Historical Society have been ruled out, but she is awaiting word on whether the high school could be a landing spot.