After tracking down the wife through the Veterans Administration, Brokaw added, the Pennsylvania man finally got his wish.

Other speakers, most of whose parents fought in the war, echoed Brokaw's comments.

"These WWII veterans were just a few years past Little League age [when they left for the war]," said Robert McKean of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services (MDVS). "It's a service and a legacy that will be remembered for generations to come."

MDVS Commissioner Thomas G. Kelley said he hopes that the sacrifice those who fought in the war made means that future generations will not have to fight in wars themselves.

"They were ordinary young men and women who grew up much too fast," Kelley said. "We pray that you may never have to make a choice to go off to war."

U.S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.) said his father only told him about his war experience late in his life, after he began telling his grandchildren about it.

"For 50 years he carried German shrapnel in his leg and back," Capuano said. "For the entire time, he told me not one thing that happened to him in WWII, not one...I wish I had known earlier."

Mayor Anthony D. Galluccio reminded the audience of the important role women played in the war effort.