'It's disrespecting veterans': Franco-American Veterans Square torn up amid road project

Jun. 28—NEW BEDFORD — When Charles Doyle saw large piles of dirt, pulled up granite curbing and heavy equipment plopped on the Franco-American Veterans Square he became disgusted and upset.

The shade trees, shrubs and flowers that once adorned the square are gone.

The restored 35-ton M26A1 Pershing tank and two flagpoles are barely visible behind the high dirt piles.

The memorial itself cannot be seen because of the dirt mounds.

"Right now, it's disrespecting veterans," said Doyle, a Navy veteran stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1976. He said the contractor is desecrating the memorial park. "I'm very outspoken. I say how it is. I don't let go once I grab onto it."

His complaint reached The Standard-Times.

The disruption of the square is part of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation project to redo the intersection of Hathaway Road, Mt. Pleasant and Nauset streets, that forms a triangle around the Franco-American Veterans Square. The $3.4 million project isn't expected to be completed until next spring.

A Standard-Times reporter visited the construction site on June 22. The intersection is blocked off and the memorial park, with its once-green grass, flowers, shrubs and large shade trees, looks like a warzone.

While it might look in complete disarray now, New Bedford DPI Director Jaime Ponte said the area will be restored and will look "better than before."

"I apologize to anyone who takes offense" at the disruption to the memorial square that the construction project has caused, Ponte said. He said before the project began, the city worked with members of the Franco-American veterans' group on the project.

"They were concerned with native plantings and the aesthetics," Ponte said.

Asked why the state couldn't use the large abutting vacant lot where Building 19 was formerly located, Ponte said it was private property. The Franco-American Veterans Square isn't owned by the city and was actually donated to the veterans in 1944.

"I want the equipment removed and the dirt removed," said Doyle, 62. He said the contractor doing the work "would not have a company if veterans hadn't done what they and those before them did."

The contractor according to city records is K.R. Resendes of Freetown.

Alfred Saulniers, of the Franco-American organization, said he remembers seeing the design plans for the intersection about two or three years ago. He said June 24 marked the Feast Day of Saint Jean-Baptiste, the Patron Saint of Franco-Americans and members would have come together on Sunday, June 26 for a ceremony at Franco-American Square.

But that didn't happen this year because the square is torn up.

"I'm not pleased that we weren't notified," Saulniers said. As part of the ceremony, he said he would have invited officials from the French and Canadian delegations in Boston to attend.

Ponte said the reconstruction of the intersection will include a new traffic signal at Nauset and Mt. Pleasant streets. He said the state is looking at a possible Spring 2022 completion date. However, he said he hopes the Franco-American Veterans Square will be restored by the end of the building season because he doesn't want to leave it in disarray over the winter.

Standard-Times digital producer Linda Roy can be reached at lroy@s-t.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @LindaRoy_SCT. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Standard-Times.

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