Norwich — Ever since Steve Alligood was a child, he knew he wanted to visit the French battlefield where his great uncle, a Norwich native, died in World War I at the age of 26.

So last month Alligood, of Waterford, visited those battlegrounds on the 100th anniversary of his great uncle’s death. 

“I knew I would be in my 60s by the time of that anniversary, but I had decided that if I were still alive, I would go to France to see that place,” Alligood said Sunday on Chelsea Parade after giving a speech about that trip and about his great uncle, Richard E. Hourigan, one of 57 Norwich men killed in the Great War.

Alligood's speech was part of a Norwich Veterans Day service that celebrated the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, or the end of WWI, as well as the contributions made by all veterans and the 100th anniversary of women in the military.

“I made sure to collect some of that chalky soil from the field where he died,” Alligood said, before pulling out a jar of gray-colored dirt from his pocket. “His death had always felt like a hole in the family, but making this trip felt like it finally closed a chapter. I felt that I had finally honored his memory.”

The jar, he said, will be donated to the Norwich VFW post that’s been named in his great uncle’s honor, one of three in Norwich memorializing Norwich veterans who fought and died in World War I — names that also include Peter Gallan and Robert O. Fletcher.

The event, which was organized by a committee of local veterans, city historian Dale Plummer, Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom and former State Troubador Tom Callinan, among others. It included speeches from retired U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Sandra L. Stosz, who detailed the USCG contributions throughout WWI, and retired Army 1st Sgt. Dora Vasquez-Hellner, who spoke about her 23-year career in the Army which included being a paratrooper and a platoon sergeant during the 1989 Panama invasion. 

“Each generation of women in the military push the door open a little bit wider,” Vasquez-Hellner said, after telling the story of the “Hello Girls” — the 223 American women who served as long-distance switchboard operators during World War I and who were critical to the success of allied forces in France.

“Last year we saw the first women graduates of Ranger school,” she said. “Women are entering the infantry. Women are combat pilots. Within each branch of our military, you will find women performing non-traditional roles. We have come a long way from the ‘Hello Girls’ of World War I.”

Callinan, a Vietnam-era Marine veteran, added a musical touch throughout Sunday’s ceremony, performing four self-written songs on guitar. Callinan sang about the lives of local soldiers lost in World War I, as well as Norwich’s forgotten war memorial, a German Howitzer, now in storage.

For his final song, Callinan detailed the story of veteran Apostil (Paul) Alexander — a Greek immigrant from Norwich who nearly died in World War I but who was rescued from the French battlegrounds hours before the war ended. He had been hit by three bullets, one of which was lodged an eighth of an inch from his heart.

That bullet would eventually kill Alexander after it shifted in his chest 40 years later while he drove through Norwich.

“Today is about remembering these stories,” Alligood said after the ceremony, noting that the last World War I veteran died in 2012.

“I think people forget,” he said. “We are so insulated here in America. These battles did not happen on our ground, so its easy for us to forget. But history repeats itself, and we must remember that.”

m.biekert@theday.com