Six stone memorials sit side by side on the Salem Town Green, honoring residents of Salem who served in Vietnam, Korea, World Wars I and II and the Revolutionary War. The last memorial, which is at the center of the monuments, recognizes the men from Salem who fought in the battles that started the war against the British in 1775.

Salem Historical Society president Dave Wordell said he helped get the Revolutionary War memorial established in 1975 because he was the chairman for the town’s celebration of the bicentennial in 1976. Just like Paul Revere who rode through the Massachusetts countryside on April 8, 1775 to warn residents of the British expedition, a member of the rebellion had come through Connecticut later in the month to seek reinforcements. Twenty-six men from New Salem Parish, as the town was called at the time, went to Lexington and Concord to fight in the skirmishes against the British there.

Many people don’t realize the battles at Lexington and Concord lasted for more than a month, Wordell said.

The 26 men are named on a brass plaque on a granite monument on the Town Green. Wordell said the town also used to have a “liberty pole” at the memorial, a pole that had a knitted red hat on top where patriots would gather to talk and make battle plans.

In addition to the war memorials, a small stone commemorates the late Salem resident and American diplomat Hiram Bingham IV. Bingham, whose father discovered Machu Picchu in Peru and whose grandfather and great-grandfather were the first missionaries in Hawaii, served in the United States Foreign Service before and during World War II. As vice consul in Marseilles, he was able to save hundreds of Jews and other refugees from the Nazis by issuing them entry visas to the U.S.

Bingham died in Salem in 1988. The stone on Town Green, to the right of the Revolutionary War memorial, reads “A Salem Resident and International Hero/Recognized as a Righteous Diplomat/At great risk, he saved many lives during WWII.”

a.hutchinson@theday.com