EASTHAMPTON — When the body of Korean War veteran Alexander Lapinski made the journey from the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke to Easthampton on Sunday, the city’s police force made sure he wasn’t alone.
The 87-year-old city native, who died at the Soldiers’ Home on Friday, was given a police escort to Mitchell Funeral Home. The cause of death on Lapinski’s death certificate was listed as COVID-19.
Lapinski is one of 52 veteran residents who have died since late March and tested positive for COVID-19 during a coronavirus outbreak at the Soldiers’ Home. As of Monday, 89 veterans and 81 employees have tested positive at the facility.
“It’s the least we can do,” said Police Sgt. Bruce Nicol of the escort.
Also Sunday, Gov. Charlie Baker advised flags be lowered to half-staff at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke and Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea, as well as the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam and Winchendon due to the fact that military honors are unavailable during this public health crisis. At the Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea, at least 12 veteran residents have died of COVID-19, while 25 veterans and 52 employees have tested positive.
Nicol is the veterans affairs liaison officer for the Easthampton Police Department. Although he did not serve in the military, his daughter Haley Salm is currently serving with the Army in Iraq.
The escort came about after Homar Gomez, an Easthampton city councilor who also works at Mitchell Funeral Home, saw the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department escort of another veteran who died in the Soldiers’ Home to Mitchell Funeral Home. Gomez’s father is a Navy veteran who served in Vietnam. Lapinski served his country in the Navy and was born in Easthampton on April 4, 1933.
“I see my dad as one of them,” he said.
Gomez decided to reach out to the police department to see if they’d be willing to provide an escort in the future.
“Everybody was on the same page,” Gomez said.
Easthampton Police Chief Robert Alberti said he only wished the department had been contacted sooner. He also said that he’d had relatives at the Soldiers’ Home, and they had received good care.
“The staff, the nurses, the doctors, they do an amazing job,” said the chief, while also acknowledging the COVID-19 situation at the facility.
Nicol said that before Lapinski’s body was carried out of the Soldiers’ Home, a ceremony for him was held in the front lobby. The ceremony played out over the public address system, as even Lapinski’s family wasn’t allowed inside the building.
The Massachusetts Army National Guard, which is assisting with the coronavirus outbreak at the Soldiers’ Home, then carried out Lapinski’s body. “Taps” was played before it was loaded into a hearse.
“I think I was tearing up myself,” Nicol said.
Eleanor Lapinski, Lapinski’s widow said she and her husband had been married for nearly 20 years. It was a second marriage for both of them, following the deaths of both of their spouses.
“He was like a gift to me,” she said. “We were just so equally matched.”
She said her husband had resided at the Soldiers’ Home since August of last year and she said the care he received was “exceptional.”
“He was totally cared for,” she said. “It’s just too bad this virus got in there and was a monster.”
Lapinski said her husband grew up in Montague and spent summers in Easthampton with his grandparents. Following his military service, he had a career at Hamilton Standard, where he was involved with quality control for the booster rocket and the spacesuits used for the first mission to the moon.
She described the police escort on Sunday as both “beautiful” and “an honor,” and praised the city’s police department and Mitchell Funeral Home for their kindness.
Nicol’s cruiser led the way, and at the Log Cabin near the Easthampton line, two more cruisers were waiting and took up the rear. The procession then went through the city’s center and around the rotary before proceeding to the funeral home on Park Street.
Nicol said that Alberti told him to contact other funeral homes in the city as well to let them know police are willing to escort other veterans who may die at the Soldiers’ Home.
“If any funeral home requests our assistance from the Soldiers’ Home … make it happen,” reads part of an email Alberti sent out to the department. “Our veterans deserve this and much, much more.”
This story was updated to include an interview with Eleanor Lapinski.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.