“It’s a good cause,” said Emily Crawford, leader of Girl Scout Troop 3217, Greenwich, as she and her troop members huddled in towels. “We’re crazy!” added one of the seven girls who jumped into the water with her. The Scouts raised more than $150.
The “Legion Lunatics,” about a dozen people from American Legion Post 634 in Cambridge, dressed as members of a bridal party and charged into the water together, gowns and veils flying. The “bride” even tossed her bouquet after she surfaced.
Other groups came from the Cossayuna Fire Department, the Salem United Methodist Church, A&J Enterprises in Salem, and the Cambridge Stewart’s Shop, or formed in honor of a family military member. A few people dove in singly or with a water-loving dog.
The “Shushan Nuts,” Linda and Holly Rehn, charged the lake waving signs that said “Peace not War” and “Love Peace.” The duo said it was their second time for the plunge.
“It’s for a good cause,” Linda Rehn said afterwards. “It means a lot to us.” Seven of the military veterans listed on the Shushan memorial rock are their relatives, she said. Their signs were “just a message. There needs to be more love in the world.”
Hugs for Heroes organizer Donna Alexander said she started the local chapter of the national organization 10 years ago with support from the Salem United Methodist Church. At first Hugs sent care packages to active duty service members overseas. But as troop numbers dropped and soldiers said they had all the packages they needed, the group shifted to helping returning service members, veterans of other wars, and emergency services personnel.
“We take up the slack when our heroes are in need,” Alexander said during remarks before the plunge. Assistance has included furnace repairs, providing heating fuel, making a mortgage payment for someone who was too sick to work and in danger of foreclosure, giving Christmas baskets to families in need (15 last year), referring veterans to counseling, and helping other veterans get services they didn’t know they were eligible for. In one case, Hugs helped send a member of the Cambridge Valley Rescue Squad to India to bring home a veteran who had gone there to receive a stem cell transplant, then found himself stranded.
Alexander and her husband Chuck, of Salem, belong to the Patriot Guard Riders. The Riders turned out in their motorcycle leathers Sunday and held large American flags along the beach, so the plungers had a color guard as they charged in and out.
Usually the Patriot Guard Riders form motorcycle escorts for the remains of deceased military members. An event like the lake plunge, by contrast, “is uplifting and fun for them,” Alexander said.
A highlight of Sunday’s event was Alexander’s presentation of a “Hug for a Hero” plaque to World War II veteran Joseph Francis Lentz of Cambridge. Lentz, tall and erect, wore his brown Army dress jacket, service pins, and brown forage cap for the occasion. His wife Hazel accompanied him.
Lentz said he was a 20-year-old “Cambridge farm boy” when he was drafted in 1944. He became a machine gunner and served with the 109th Infantry of the 28th Division, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 when German troops tried to push back the Allied advance across Belgium. He continued into Germany, taking part in the occupation after V-E Day in May of 1945. He left the Army as an acting sergeant in December of that year.
Lenz was awarded a Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and the Croix de Guerre, France’s second-highest military honor, among other decorations, but received no recognition after he returned home, Alexander said. On Sunday, he was given not only the slate plaque but also a “Challenge Coin” from the Patriot Guard Riders.
After the plunge, the American Legion hosted a family fun day at its post in Cambridge, with food, a pumpkin carving contest, and face painting for the children.
Alexander said she would not have a tally of the amount raised until Monday. All proceeds go to the group to help others, she said.
