Gallery: Stoughton Honors Veterans Callanan and Sears with Memorial Square Dedications

On a day when Stoughton paid tribute to its soldiers who were killed in action, the town also honored two veterans who recently passed away after devoting much of their adult lives to the Stoughton community, following their service in the armed forces.

After , family and friends of , two longtime volunteers in town, gathered for Memorial Square Dedications.

The corner of West and School Streets was dedicated to , an Army veteran.

Callanan served in the Army from 1950-1952. According to a proclamation from the town, he was the founder of the Stoughton Christmas Parade and was "instrumental" in having the town approve and install special street signs to honor those residents killed in action.

He was a generous donor to the Stoughton Little League, Rotary Club, Stoughton Firefighters and to the Stoughton Schools.

He married his wife, Evelyn, in 1952 and together they had four children, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Callanan passed away on February 26, 2011 at the age of 82.

Fittingly, the other end of the island at the intersection of West and School Streets is dedicated to Callanan's brother, Joseph.

Meanwhile, the corner of Cedar St. and Independence Ave. was dedicated to .

Sears, a Marine serving during the early years of the Vietnam War, was an active member of the VFW Post 1645, having served on the Post Honor Guard and as the Post's commander.

A proclamation from the town of Stoughton credits him with being the "driving force" behind the in town and said he was "instrumental" in getting the Girl Scouts to participate in the biannual reflagging of veterans' graves prior to the Memorial Day and Veterans' Day festivities.

Married to his wife Helen in 1962, Sears was a father to four children and had four grandchildren.

He passed away on December 10, 2011 at the age of 69.

Veterans' Agent Pazyra noted that this Memorial Day was the first he could remember where Sears wasn't present with the VFW Honor guard.

In addition to family and friends, a large contingent of boy scouts attended the Sears Memorial Square dedication.

Prior to the Memorial Square dedications, Pazyra and State Senator Brian A. Joyce helped to honor another Stoughton veteran, Bradford R. Burns, who tragically took his own life in 1980, after serving in Vietnam.

Pazyra and Joyce spoke about Burns at the Town Hall ceremony during the .

Burns served in the Marines from 1971 to 1973. After his service, he became the first president of the Veterans' Club at Southeast Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth) in 1974, graduating from there with honors in 1978. He also established the Vietnam-Era Veterans' Association (VEVA) and helped to establish other area Veterans' outreach centers.

He passed away in December of 1980 at the age of 29.

His mother, Mimi Burns; sister, Laura Lindelof; nephew Brian Lindelof; and associate Mervina Johnson, who helped with his outreach work for veterans, were present at Monday's ceremony.

Joyce said it was an "overdue but wonderful recognition."

"I hope it provided Brad's family with a small measure of comfort."

Joyce said there is a "growing recognition and awareness that many of our veterans suffer as much after they leave the battlefield as they do on the battlefield."

He said there are 6,500 veteran suicides in the U.S. per year and we "owe it to our veterans to address all health issues - physical and mental - when they return home."