Remembering Our Veterans

This Veterans' Day marks the 80th year after the end of WWII in 1945.

War memorials exist in East Providence (EP), RI to honor our residents who served.

The iron gates at W. B. Pierce Memorial Stadium (known as Pierce Field) were given by EP High School classmates and dedicated on June 6, 1948. This memorial is to remind them and us that of the 2,125 high school students who served our country, 76 gave the ultimate sacrifice. These young men and women were the majority of the nearly 3,130 residents of EP who served in World War II. A partial list of these students' names can be found on the EP Military Service Honor Roll. Partial because the last names of non-graduating students beginning with the letter G, O, and X are missing. Please help complete this list by submitting the missing students' names.

The EP Military Service Honor Roll is a virtual honor roll. It was established in 2017 to remember our veterans and present military service members so they and their efforts will not be forgotten. This list is now a 54 page collection of names, with a variety of details, and some photos. It is located on the EPVMER2021 website at https://sites.google.com/view/epvmer2021  or google "epvmer2021". Have no web access? Visit your local public library to read this Honor Roll, to watch videos honoring our military service members, and to read about the history of memorials of the EP Veterans Memorial Expressway (EPVME, Route I-195).

Please submit new names of EP residents (and Seekonk, MA residents who attended EP High School) who served our country (includes the Merchant Marines, National Guard, service during a war and/ or peace time), and updates (of promotions, retirements, deaths, and corrections) of existing names to epvme@hotmail.com. Example: in memory of (dead) or in honor of (alive), last name, rank, first name, middle initial or name, war or service area, service branch, other suggested details: years, country served in, job description, military photo. An update of the EP Military Service Honor Roll will be posted in March 2026.

Notecards with color photos of the individual war memorial plaques for the EP Veterans Memorial Expressway are available for a donation of $15 for a set of 20 cards with envelopes or 75 cents for a single card. The money raised will be used to purchase signs with selected biographical information about each veteran to be posted at his memorial. Full biographical details can be read in the book "Veterans with Individual War Memorials in E. Prov., RI". This reference book is available locally at the Weaver Memorial Library, Riverside Library, EP Senior High School, both EP middle schools, and the EP Historical Society.

Thank you veterans and military members for your service to our country.