Meet Peter Harvell, our town’s Veterans Service Officer! Peter is a retired Lieutenant Colonel who served in the Army for 23 years with tours around the world including the 1991 war with Iraq, Desert Storm. After growing up in Lexington and graduating from Boston College, he fulfilled his ROTC commitment as an Army officer, eventually joining the Special Forces.

After retirement, Peter worked in industry for a few years and then heard about a vacant Veteran Service Officer opening in Sudbury. He served there for four years and then in Framingham for 13 years before retiring. Now working part-time for Lincoln and Maynard, Peter is available to help any veteran in need.

Maynard, according to our last census, has 800 veterans in our community. Massachusetts requires every town and city in the Commonwealth to have a Veteran’s Service Officer because we are the only state to offer financial support to indigent veterans and their dependents under a law called Chapter 115.   

Peter has guidelines from the state about what the funds can be used for and the amount given but he is able to help with medical bills, cash stipends, a veteran’s headstone, or even rent or mortgage payments. The funds come from our town budget and then the state will reimburse the town 75% of what was spent. Peter helps veterans access benefits by helping them fill out paperwork or find the documents people need to receive services.

One of the unique things Massachusetts has done is to create a Massachusetts Medal of Liberty; it looks like a Purple Heart medal and this medal is given to the families of soldiers who died in combat. There are 30 eligible veterans from Maynard and Peter, working with a genealogist, was able to find 15 of those, have their families fill out an application to the state and have them approved. Peter then presented the medals to family members at a ceremony in Memorial Park last Veteran’s Day.  

One of the ways we honor veterans is to place American flags at their gravesites. Peter is able to acquire the flags and is grateful to Ed Sokolowski, a former VFW commander, who organizes getting the flags placed in local cemeteries.  

Peter asks everyone “to look out for your neighbors and if someone is a veteran, I can assist them. I work with homeless veterans and try to get them into housing through the VA Supportive Housing Program. We currently have six veterans here with VASH subsidies, but it’s getting harder and harder to find housing that fits the federal guidelines for housing costs.”

Peter’s office hours are on Thursdays from 2 to 4pm – but he checks his email and voicemail throughout the week and will get back to people needing help quickly. You can reach Peter at Town Hall at [email protected] or 978-897-1361.