When Local News Dies: A Walk in Mount Adnah Cemetery

The news covered the storm The Gloucester Daily Times ran a frontpage headline and article the Boston Globe wrote about damage across eastern Massachusetts the city39s CBS affiliate gave 90 seconds to what the wind and rain had wrought Strip out the broader coverage however and Annisquam39s story amounted to a dozen inches of print and a maybe minute of airtime Like traffic wrecks and beauty pageants it was an assignment for a rookie reporter Sixty seconds on air Just about rightAnnisquam means quoton top of the rockquot The Algonquian name fits the village39s site just north of Gloucester on a promontory between the eponymous river and the Atlantic Ocean Over four centuries fishermen stone cutters who worked the cape39s granite quarries and an artist colony have lived there While some average folks remain pricey summer homes and historic restorations now line the streets where Mercedes and BMWs from New York Boston and points inbetween struggle to parkSome of Annisquam39s previous residents of course haven39t left On Mount Adnah the cemetery atop one of its higher points a single paved lane loops around granite outcroppings on the way through their graves Among them an oldgrowth maple fell victim to the wind although the damage was negligible The cemetery has seen worse since the village purchased the land in 1848 Indeed the microburst39s mayhem pales in comparison to the record its tombstones display of the country39s far more lethal stormsIn the world of disappearing newspapers formulaic TV news and social media masquerading as journalism the odds are overwhelming that no editor would assign Mount Adnah39s story As local news dies so do such interests and the reporting skills needed to pursue them amp8212 including the sense of a place and its people whose experiences are no less universal than they are unique It39s unfortunate The cemetery39s five acres are America39s story Its flags bookmark the chapters most relevant todayTake Joseph Augustus Moore and John J Davis both infantry officers in the Civil War Moore was a captain in the 17th Massachusetts Davis was a lieutenant in the 2nd Massachusetts Moore served most of his war in North Carolina where his regiment held its ground and fought Davis officered in three different regiments that saw action at Antietam Chancellorsville Gettysburg Atlanta and in Sherman39s march to the seaOr consider Private Daniel Erwin 102 Machine Gun Battalion 51st Infantry Brigade 26th Division The 26th arrived late to World War I but not too late for Erwin see combat in the MeuseArgonne offensive of 1918 the last major battle of the war So did John Gossom Medical Corps 56th Infantry and Manne Jussila private 36th Infantry Division Jussila came home apparently unwounded Erwin was awarded the Purple Heart Gossom died in Germany that fall a month after the armistice of November 1918The headstones that mention World War II and Korea give only rank and military branch The Army and Air Force are well represented although it39s not hard to infer from the Navy39s prominence the importance of Cape Ann39s seafaring traditions Among the sailors are Robert Crockett John Egan and Henry Marchant A dozen more headstones show Coast Guard service In this war another Gossom George H Jr left high school to join the Marines All came home to live well into the 20th century and beyondVietnam appears beneath only one name Colonel William D Corliss Two words accompany it Silver Star Corliss39s heroism earned that and Vietnam39s Cross of Gallantry in 1968 during the Tet Offensive a defeat for North Vietnam that for Americans nonetheless became a political turning point in the war Corliss was a career armor officer who served in Europe and Asia His son an Army Lieutenant Colonel followed in his footsteps So did one grandson who serves in the Coast GuardThe Civil War two world wars the Korean and Vietnam wars all are local stories The soldiers sailors and airmen who fought them brought their experiences and memories home to a very small place Mount Adnah provides only one village39s roster There are thousands of Annisquams including the neighborhoods that comprise our largest cities where the veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq have no less important stories that more than their friends and families need to hear But to tell their stories amp8212 about what they did in their wars as well as what war did to them amp8212 calls for journalists who know the local territory including the people who live there and they simply are going awayAs hometown newspapers die media conglomerates eviscerate local broadcast news and what passes for Webbased journalism substitutes algorithms for actual human insights the losses tally up to more than newsroom jobs Americans are losing the chance to understand the human costs and consequences of their nation39s conflicts It39s far more than the loss of the journalist39s proverbial contribution of quotthe first draft of historyquot It39s also the lost opportunity to know ourselvesClick the social buttons to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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When Local News Dies: A Walk in Mount Adnah Cemetery

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Kent M. Harrington

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When Local News Dies: A Walk in Mount Adnah Cemetery

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