MIDDLEBORO — “A lot of us veterans have been into a lot of dark places, and we've used different outlets to kind of find the light,” said Johanna Pantojas during the second annual Middleboro Veterans Appreciation Day on Saturday, June 14.

“It's good to talk to other veterans to see what they've done to better themselves or acclimate themselves back into the civilian world,” she said.

The Middleboro Veterans Service Office held the event for veterans and their families inside the John T. Nichols Jr. Middle School as fickle weather lasted through Saturday. The school’s gymnasium was lined with local area sponsors, bouncy houses and plenty of cookout food to create a space for the veteran community to connect and enjoy.

Pantojas was one of many veterans at the event. She served in the Army for four years in Fort Hood, Texas, where she met her husband, Rick, an Army combat veteran who was deployed during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Pantojas didn’t re-sign after four years so she could raise their two daughters while her husband was deployed overseas.

Stephen Adelman, the Middleboro veterans service officer, said he started the free, annual event last year to get to know local veterans and to provide positive support with “no gimmicks.” Adelman served in the Army for 33 years, he said, including 10 years on active duty where he was deployed to Iraq in 2004.

“I just wanted to have a supportive environment and community. It’s good to be around people doing something positive, where people are smiling and having a good time. Not, ‘you need to do this or that’, just come be our veteran here,” Adelman said.

Adelman said he wanted to tailor the event to all veterans, especially younger veterans with families. The Middleboro Police Department was in attendance with their new 7-month-old comfort dog, Millie, and the Middleboro Fire Department had their engines parked out front for families to try the sirens and sit in the driver's seat. Adelman said the event also serves as a way to extend support services from the town’s veterans service office.

The appreciation day last year saw almost 100 attendees, Adelman said, and about 125 people attended this year.

Pantojas, a Middleboro resident, said outlets for veterans and their families provide a needed support and sense of community. She said learning from other veterans and having an outlet for children in military families is essential and the event on Saturday was a great example of that.

“It's really hard for the kids. They see their parents are gone for six months or 18 months depending on their deployments. So, it's also good for the kids to have others — we call them little ‘military brats’ — so they kind of live in the same lifestyle and can relate,” Pantojas said.

Paul Provencher, a Vietnam War Army veteran who served from 1971 to 1996, noted how the family-fun event pulls in veterans of all ages. He worked in the past as Middleboro’s Veterans Services Officer for 14 years, and was named Veteran of the Year by the office in 2023.

“It not only draws the senior veterans into the community, but it also takes these younger kids and makes them aware of the fact that even though they're out of the military, they're not forgotten for their time and service,” Provencher said.

John Petrosevich, a Navy veteran who served from 1996 to 2002, said it gives him a good feeling to thank and shake hands of fellow veterans. He said everyone has unique personal problems, and often, it’s hard to share them and even see them in others. For him, the veteran community is easier to build trust with and find support in.

“You guys could be complete strangers, but being a veteran might open that door to feel like you can almost trust somebody. Almost feels like you know them, because you signed up to do the same thing — to serve the country,” he added.