Amidst Continued War, a Little Bit of Ukraine in Bellingham

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Last Saturday, Ukrainians gathered in Boston to commemorate the so-called Holodomor, the deliberate starvation imposed on the Ukraine in the early 1930s by communist dictator Joseph Stalin that resulted in the deaths of between 3.5 and 5 million people. The current troubles there only make the remembrances more bitter.

And, early this year, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Governor Charlie Baker spoke out.  "The commonwealth of Massachusetts stands with the free democratic nation of Ukraine. And I'm quite sure that the people of Massachusetts stand with the men, women and children of Ukraine as well. And that's because the people of Ukraine, like all people the world over, if given the chance choose to live peacefully in an open and free society," Baker said.

The words had special meaning for recent emigres as well as those in the region with more historically distant Ukrainian forbears, including Franklin American Legion Post 75 Commander John Milot.

With his brother Chris Milot, Bellingham's Deputy Fire Chief, he has worked to restore and care for the Ukrainian-American Cemetery on Center Street in Bellingham, that had fallen into disrepair over the years.

Milot said family connections and history make the conflict in Ukraine personal.

There is still an active Ukrainian-oriented church in the area, St. Michael the Archangel. According to the church web site, when Ukrainian immigrants arrived in the Rhode Island area in the late nineteenth century, they found work in mills throughout the Blackstone River Valley. Although their early years in America were extremely difficult, these immigrants quickly formed church parishes, among them Saint Michael’s.

As far as the cemetery, the Milots and others involved are continuing to establish and maintain lot lines, clean up overgrown shrubs, and above all work to ensure that the cemetery is financially viable so it can be a little bit of Ukraine in Bellingham, long into the future.

Below, members of the Milot family pictured about a century ago, presumably in connection with a wedding.

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