Local residents, leaders, historians and everyone in the neighborhood holding Bunker Hill Day near and dear were absolutely moved and dramatically by news coming out of Washington earlier this week that our Congressman Mike Capuano will be asking that Bunker Hill Day be established as a national holiday.
This came as incredible news to Charlestown residents as this announcement comes during the near two week celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.
In recent years, efforts have been made at the State House to end Bunker Hill Day as a Suffolk County holiday – so this news about a possible national holiday designation came as a wonderful surprise.
Capuano made his announcement at the annual Bunker Hill Day Breakfast before a crowd of more than 300 people.
He decried the fact that some people have been calling Bunker Hill Day a hack holiday.
“It says more about what happened that day, than almost anything since,” he said of the battle.
“And yet we tend to forget. None of us forgets Memorial Day, none of us forgets Flag Day, none of us forgets Veterans Day. We should not forget Bunker Hill Day. “It should be a national holiday,” Capuano added.
Capuano said he will lead a local effort to ignite interest in the idea before filing legislation on Capitol Hill.
“A federal bill won’t stand a chance of passing without a groundswell of support,” he said.
Many historians, including Pulitzer Prize winning author David McCullough, described the Battle of Bunker Hill “as one of the most important days in our history.
The battle itself proved that Americans could stand up to the British and that they, the Americans, would not back down, that they would stand their ground and fight and die if necessary to prove their point – that they wanted freedom over tyranny.
Capuano’s announcement excited the big breakfast crowd.
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