Remembering a Marine’s sacrifice – Leonard Morse Hospital

By Charlie Breitrose

Posted Feb 26, 2010 @ 06:02 PM

NATICK —

Seeking to honor a classmate who was killed in Vietnam, a group from Natick High School's class of 1959 dedicated a piece of physical therapy equipment at the Leonard Morse Hospital in the name of Allen Loane, this week.

Loane served in the Marine Corps, and was a 2nd lieutenant when he died in fighting in Vietnam in September 1967. His classmates honored him at their 50th reunion last fall and the Morse Institute Library has a display in Loane's honor, but they wanted to have a permanent memorial, said classmate Allan Ross.

"We had money left over from the reunion and we were looking for an opportunity to make a donation to the town from the class," Ross said.

People were happy to help. Loane had been a star player on the Natick High School basketball team, and went on to play at Bowdoin College.

He did not go directly into the military, said classmate Kevin Keane. Before enlisting he worked for the Middlesex News, now the MetroWest Daily News, Keane said.

"He was an individual who went into the service by choice," Keane said. "Because of his eyesight he tried to join three branches (of the military) but could not get in. Finally he got into the Marines."

Several members of the class of 1959 came from around the area for the dedication. Russell Barber came the farthest, however, flying in from South Carolina for the event.

"I wouldn't have missed it for all the money in the world," Barber said.

Joining Barber and Ross were Dick Anderson, the class president, Ken Poole, Dick Lofgren and Keane.

Barber, a Marine himself, initiated the effort to honor Loane when he recently learned that he had been killed in Vietnam. While he was not a close friend of Loane in high school, Barber said he felt like he needed to do something to honor him.

"I got it started because Marines stick together," Barber said.

As the class of 1959 looked for ways to honor Loane, Ross said, they found that the Leonard Morse Hospital would be happy to accept the donation. The next problem, however, was finding the right thing to donate.

"Everything they needed cost more than we had," Ross said. "We went back to our classmates and asked for another round of donations, and we were able to put together the donations."

The group raised enough to donate $4,536 to pay for a upper body ergometer, a machine that looks like a stationary bicycle but for the arms. It is used for patients needing to rehabilitate from shoulder and neck injuries, as well as to build up cardiopulmonary endurance.

On Wednesday, the machine was unveiled in the hospitals outpatient rehabilitation center. A plaque honoring Loane was attached to the back of the chair on the new machine.

Andrei Soran, CEO of MetroWest Medical Center, gladly accepted the donation.

"We are very excited and grateful for a couple reasons," Soran said. "One is it will help a lot of patients. And we are grateful for everything the armed forces have done for this country through history. Having this plaque to means a lot to people at this hospital."

The new machine was much needed, said Leslie Bove, a physical therapist at the hospital. It replaced one that was 20-years old, and the new one is much easier to use.

"The seat (on the old one) didn't swivel, and it was hard to get people in an out of," Bove said. "This one is easier to get into and out of. We have a lot of elderly patients, a lot with oxygen or who use walkers.

"It was so hard to get them on (the old one) that it was almost not worth doing it."