By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — Veteran Raymond F. Boucher Sr. was awarded a Silver Star for heroism in combat when he helped carry his wounded comrades to safety during a firefight in Vietnam. A Bronze Star for bravery came next when he helped save the lives of several South Vietnamese children who were being fired at by the Viet Cong.

Boucher’s third and final medal was the Purple Heart, which he was decorated with after being hit in the stomach and face with shrapnel from a trip-wire landmine. Those injuries cost him an eye and Boucher was discharged after 10 years of military service (1963-1973) in Vietnam as a member of the Navy Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) and a Navy Seal.
But none of those medals, he says, means more than the opportunity he was given Monday during Woonsocket’s Memorial Day Parade. When the parade stopped at Monument Square for a brief ceremony, Boucher, 71, a lifelong Woonsocket resident, was asked by the Woonsocket United Veterans Council to toss a bouquet of flowers over the Court Street Bridge in remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.
“That was the highest honor I’ve ever been given, even above my medals, because that moment was in memory of every veteran of every war who has died,” said Boucher. “I was so proud and honored to have been asked to take part in that.”
Hundreds of people lined Clinton Street and South Main Street for the city’s annual parade, which stepped off at the corner of Cumberland and Clinton Streets and ended at Market Square on South Main Street. People waved flags and saluted as the parade rolled by. The line of march included members of the Rhode Island Army National Guard, which served as grand marshal; a  Woonsocket Police Department motorcade and color guard; Woonsocket United Veterans Council color guard and officers; Woonsocket Veterans Advisor Robert Ducharme; Woonsocket City Council members; Pastor Carl E. Guiney of the First Assembly of God; and the Woonsocket High School Band.
Also participating were color guards from the Cournoyer-Ducharme-Gosselin-Lambert; VFW Post 11519; Belhumeur-Duhamel American Legion Post 62; American Legion Fairmount Post No. 85; Amvets Harnois-Barnabe-Arel, Post 7; Woonsocket Post No. 15, Franco-American War Veterans; Disabled American Veterans Chapter 12; and the St. Joseph Veterans Association.
Marchers also include members of lady auxiliary posts, Woonsocket military recruiters, Woonsocket Sixth Grade Band, Woonsocket Fire Department Color Guard;  Woonsocket High School ROTC Unit, Woonsocket Lodge of Elks, Woonsocket Emblem Club 27, Cercle Laurier and the Woonsocket Middle School Band.
A coalition was held after the parade at the St. Joseph Veterans Association building on Louise Street.
“I make it a point to attend the parade every year because this is the day we remember these American heroes and the sacrifices they made for us,” said one parade-goer.
Heroes, he said, like Boucher, who volunteered to serve in Vietnam at the age of 17 because he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his late brothers, Roger and Lionel Boucher, who served in World War II.
In the early 1960s, Boucher was working as a cook and dishwasher at the former New Shanghai Chinese restaurant (now known as Chan’s). He dropped out of high school and joined the Navy where he soon became a member of the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT).
At the end of the 1950s, there were few Special Operations Forces. The Army had the Green Berets, and the Navy had their Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT). These elite units were trained to fight and operate behind the lines of a conventional war, specifically in the event of a Russian drive through Europe. The Navy entered the Vietnam conflict in 1960, when the UDTs delivered small watercraft far up the Mekong River into Laos. In 1961, Naval Advisers started training the Vietnamese UDT. These men were called the Lien Doc Nguoi Nhia (LDNN), roughly translated as the “soldiers that fight under the sea.”
When Boucher arrived back in the States after being wounded and discharged, he wasn’t prepared for the reception he would receive when he returned home.
“I had to take my uniform off because a lot of people were swearing and spitting at me,” he says.
When asked how he felt about that, Boucher said, “I cried.”
From the day he tripped the landmine, Boucher’s health was never the same. He gets around now in a wheelchair and like many veterans, suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his experience in Vietnam.
He’s had his share of tragedies in recent years. He lost his wife, Pauline, in 2000, and last December, one of his nine children, Raymond Boucher Jr., was killed after being struck by a snowplow in the city. “It’s been tough, but I try to stay positive as much as possible. I always say if it’s not a good day, make it a good day,” Boucher says.
Boucher says it was gratifying to hear the applause from spectators lining the streets yesterday, especially the children.
“I don’t think these kids really understand what war is about, because you have to live through it, but hopefully they understand that it is important that we take one day out of the year to come together as a country and honor those who died in military service,” he said.