SALISBURY — More than 54 years after dying in a helicopter crash in Boston, a Salisbury man was honored on Veterans Day by the Coast Guard and three generations of his family in a moving ceremony inside Long Hill Cemetery in Salisbury.
Hospital Corpsman 1st Class John J. Kohan was killed on June 24, 1956, when the Coast Guard helicopter he was flying crashed near Logan International Airport in Boston after a search and rescue mission in Newburyport was aborted due to heavy fog.
For years, his sons, Paul and Kenneth Kohan, petitioned for the Coast Guard to honor him for dying in the line of duty. It took the help of Paul Kohan's stepdaughter, Tyana Thayer, a Coast Guard lieutenant stationed in Washington, D.C., to make yesterday's ceremony a reality.
Thayer said the ceremony was a way of bringing the family a sense of peace and closure.
"It's been a long process," Thayer said, calling yesterday's event "cathartic."
Paul Kohan said the push to finally honor his father came during a visit by his grandchildren to his home in Washington state. The grandchildren read an old article written about their great-grandfather and asked Paul Kohan what kind of man John Kohan was.
"It's way overdue, as a memorial," Paul Kohan said.
Family members, including John Kohan's widow, Dorothy Giampa of Salisbury, his two sons, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren huddled around his grave as two Coast Guard officers rested a ceremonial orange life preserver against his modest headstone. Several yards away, a lone bagpiper played somberly.
"I think he'd be very happy, he'd be smiling. He is smiling," Kenneth Kohan of Amesbury said, after the ceremony.
Kenneth Kohan said he was 6 years old when his father was killed, too young for him to fully realize what had happened. Yesterday's ceremony gave him another chance to mourn his father, he added.
Coast Guard chaplain, Cmdr. Jonathan Smith, spoke of Kohan's service to the Coast Guard and his family and the importance of remembering all those who fought and served in the armed forces to keep this country safe.
Following the ceremony, family members and Coast Guard officials reassembled at the Newburyport Elks Club where Kohan's family was presented with a plaque recognizing Kohan's service to his country. The Coast Guard also presented Giampa with a shadowbox containing Kohan's commendations and documented accomplishments while serving in the Coast Guard. Also in the box was a small United Stated flag that for a short time flew above the U.S. Capitol.
Fighting back tears, Paul Kohan talked about how the ceremony for his father came as a surprise. Typically, he and his family come to the Salisbury area each Thanksgiving, but this year he decided to come early when he learned, about two weeks ago, that the Coast Guard was to honor his father.
"This whole thing was popped up on us," Paul Kohan said. "It was kind of a shock after 54 years."
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