Hundreds of students at Plymouth North High School got to know a different side of a familiar face when a school custodian shared his story of serving in the Navy at the school’s annual Veterans Day assembly on Tuesday.
Marcus Williams, a maintenance worker at the school since 2022, urged students to recognize the people who have served and cared for them, even if they don’t know their stories.
“Acknowledge people of service,” Williams said. “You don’t have to know me by name to make my day. ‘Hey, how you doing, what’s up, man? Good morning.’ That’s all it takes.”
The ceremony, which included more than 50 veterans, has been a tradition since Plymouth North opened on Obery Street in 2012, said history teacher Jeremy Hales. Each year, it brings together generations of Plymouth residents, helping students feel like a part of something bigger, said North High School Principal Peter Parcellin.
“I’m so inspired, every single time we do this, by the sense of community that comes together,” Parcellin said. “There are moving pieces in this town that are so integral to making this community work, and it’s on display.”
Student council co-presidents Samantha Moschella and Cadence Chapman, both 18, emceed the ceremony, during which veterans received multiple standing ovations from the crowd.
“This assembly is a small token of our appreciation and recognition of the sacrifices veterans have made for our country,” Moschella said.
The ceremony included performances by the school’s band, orchestra, and choir. A group of 12th graders also presented a poem they created for the ceremony, titled “Fighting for Home.”
“Words alone cannot express how this hits each veteran,” Denis Russell, a U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran and commander of Plymouth VFW Post 1822, told the crowd before introducing Williams. “It is what we live for.”
In addition to Williams, two other school staff members were recognized for their service: EDTV Technical Assistant Evan McNamara and teacher David South.
In his speech, Williams recounted his time as a high school student in Dorchester. After Williams waw accepted into Brandeis University, a dean told him “maybe Brandeis isn’t the place for you,” which led him to join the Navy in May 2001.
“That summer and spring, I sweated, cried, and marched my way to a Navy ballcap,” he said.
Williams also recalled receiving the news about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center while he was in training at the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Florida.
“In the back of my mind, a small thought started but got louder, saying, ‘Am I going to war?’” he said.
After completing his training, Williams was deployed to an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, where he worked as a jet mechanic.
“I gained immeasurable mutual respect for my brothers and sisters in green. I learned discipline, patience, poise, and grief with them,” he said.
After being discharged in April 2009, Williams struggled to find a job in the middle of the recession. He eventually found himself at the New England Center for Homeless Veterans, where he stayed for two years. After working several other jobs, he found his place at Plymouth North.
“I asked myself one day, ‘how do I make an impact on administrators, teachers, staff, students, that I meet every day?’ Then it hit me: Be yourself,” Williams said.
Parcellin said Williams’ story was the “perfect” way to close the ceremony.
“His story is not some magnanimous story that he was destined from birth to do something incredible. His story is just that he was a great person who decided to say yes to stand up for other people,” Parcellin told students. “Part of the inspiration I want you to get is, wow, we have these people who’ve done so much for us living in this town. Let’s find out who they are.”
Emily Spatz can be reached at emily@plymouthindependent.org.