SSG Don MacPhail POW Memorial - Montague, MA
N 42° 32.113 W 072° 31.974
18T E 702603 N 4712153
A memorial to Army Staff Sergeant Don MacPhail is located at the Montague Town Common in historic Montague, Massachusetts, USA.
Waymark Code: WMA3RC
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 11/11/2010
Views: 6
The memorial consists of a flagpole proudly bearing the American flag, with a rock marker beneath it inscribed with the following text:
Soldiers Memorial Committee
dedicates this flagpole to
SSG Don MacPhail
5th Special Forces Group U.S. Army
who spent 54 months as a POW
in Laos and Cambodia
June 16, 2001
Welcome Home
"Don MacPhail is one of America’s greatest living war heroes, and one of America’s finest public and civil servants. Don fought valiantly in Vietnam and spent 5 years as a POW. When he returned home to Massachusetts he was awarded our state’s highest military honor, the Medal of Valor. In recognition of his service and great sacrifice, a tree and a plaque were dedicated to him, and can be viewed in Boston in front of our Statehouse.
Don MacPhail’s contributions to his country did not end with his military service. He returned home and studied Criminal Justice and Public Administration, graduating with top honors from Westfield State and later, the University of Massachusetts. He worked for a decade as a police officer in the Town of Montague, then served in Public Education as a Vice Principal before moving on to work with another one of his life’s great passions: Trains. For the past decade MacPhail has served as a Trainmaster, a Foreman and a Locomotive Engineer, running trains from one end of the nation to the other."
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