{"id":416502,"date":"2025-04-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=416502"},"modified":"2025-04-17T19:19:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:19:40","slug":"west-point-graduate-shares-excitement-of-being-battle-of-lexington-re-enactor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=416502","title":{"rendered":"West Point graduate shares excitement of being Battle of Lexington re-enactor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n The Lexington Militia Men perform a musket firing demonstration during Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade March 16, 2025 (Photo by Joe Farrar).
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LEXINGTON \u2013 As the Lexington Minute Men prepare to re-enact the Battle of Lexington and Concord this weekend, one Army veteran reflected on why he participates.<\/p>\n

Steve Delity, a 1985 United States Military Academy graduate, moved to Lexington, Massachusetts, in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to the re-enactment that year, and it profoundly moved me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was honored and humbled to be on the ground where it all began. I gained a deep appreciation for the courage the Lexington Militia had to stand up to the advancing British troops.\u201d<\/p>\n

He attended every re-enactment in Lexington since then and joined the Lexington Minute Men company last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t join early because I didn\u2019t think I could devote the necessary time, but my children are now grown, and my appreciation for what happened in Lexington has only expanded,\u201d the former Army captain said. \u201cLast summer, a friend who\u2019s in the group convinced me that joining was overdue and that I had time to join, get trained up and participate in the 250th anniversary events. I\u2019m so grateful I finally joined.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Steve Delity, a 1985 United States Military Academy graduate, poses for a photo with his Lexington Minute Men militia kit before drill practice for Lexington250 March 13, 2025 (Photo by Joe Farrar).
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Daniel Harrington<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delity portrays Daniel Harrington. On April 19, 1775, Harrington, 36, was on Lexington Green. He served as the clerk of Capt. John Parker\u2019s Lexington Militia Company, which stood their ground against British Regulars that marched toward Concord to seize weapons and gunpowder. Harrington saw three family members die that morning, his father-in-law, Robert Munroe, his cousin, Johnathan Harrington Jr., and another more distant cousin, Caleb Harrington. He and his wife, Anna Munroe, had nine children.<\/p>\n

Harrington\u2019s house faced the Village Green. His house no longer stands but during the re-enactment, Delity will start from the land where the house originally stood and retreat to the same property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel incredibly fortunate to portray someone who was there that morning,\u201d he said. \u201cI am committed to adding to what the company knows about his life. I\u2019ve concentrated on learning more about what he did after April 19.\u201d<\/p>\n

Delity learned that Harrington served off and on in different militia units, the most notable was with a Massachusetts Regiment raised and sent to Saratoga, New York, to reinforce the Continental Army under Gen. Horatio Gates. His unit was in both major battles within the Battle of Saratoga.<\/p>\n

He said when people are attending the Battle of Lexington and Concord events this weekend, he wants them to know just how honored the re-enactors are to represent the people who fought.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to know how truly honored I am, and we all are, to portray the common people of the day that had the enormous courage to defend their ground and set in motion the eventual Independence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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\n Steve Delity poses with his fellow 1985 United States Military Academy graduates in August 1989, after attending the funeral of their classmate and friend, Capt. Robert Wilson. Wilson died while a passenger in a Blackhawk helicopter during training exercise at Fort Irwin, California (U.S. Army photo by Mike Tain).
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Camaraderie<\/strong><\/p>\n

Excited to relive the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Delity said training with the re-enactors has given him the sense of camaraderie he had when he served in the Army from 1985 to 1990 as a combat engineer in Korea and Fort Ord, a former Army post on Monterrey Bay, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fellow re-enactors have assisted me in getting my gear such as my authentic period clothing, musket and equipment and in learning the 1764 Manual of Arms that they use,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Delity said he looks forward to seeing the crowd reactions to their re-enactments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to it,\u201d he said. \u201cI recently marched with the LMM in Boston\u2019s St. Patrick\u2019s Day Parade. We stopped and fired our muskets more than 30 times during the parade. I was astonished by how loud the crowd roared and how frequently they went into chants of, \u2018USA, USA.\u2019 I can only imagine how I\u2019ll feel after portraying the Militia that stood on the ground that fateful morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Steve Delity, a 1985 United States Military Academy graduate, poses with his fellow Ranger School classmates for a photo Nov. 12, 1987 (Courtesy photo).
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Call to serve<\/strong><\/p>\n

Delity, a history buff, went to West Point, to serve his country, build lifelong friendships and earn a great education.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt noble, serious and necessary,\u201d he said. \u201cI was patriotic. I knew I would be given responsibilities that I would have to live up to. I knew it would be good for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He served in the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea and later in the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord in forwardly deployed combat engineer assignments, including the Western Corridor, Republic of Korea.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy actions included conducting patrols in the [Demilitarized Zone], clearing a Korean War era minefield that was discovered by a Korean civilian farmer and demolishing with explosives an old bridge just south of the DMZ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He learned that his military heritage included family that served in the Civil War and Revolutionary War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Lexington Militia Men perform a musket firing demonstration during Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day parade March 16, 2025 (Photo by Joe Farrar). (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL LEXINGTON \u2013 As the Lexington Minute Men prepare to re-enact the Battle of Lexington and Concord this weekend, one Army veteran reflected on why he participates. Steve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416504,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-416502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=416502"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416509,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416502\/revisions\/416509"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/416504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=416502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=416502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=416502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}