Members of the Artillery Company of Newport prepare to form up in the Veterans Day Parade, which wound from the State House to Memorial Park, off South Main Street, where the World War II Memorial was dedicated.

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The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

PROVIDENCE — John Baldinelli and John Boezi have been friends for 50 years, ever since their days bowling at Legion Bowl in Cranston. If you’re keeping track, Boezi was by far the better bowler, mostly because his buddy was too busy cracking jokes to amuse the girls. Both married women named Mary.

Today, Baldinelli and Boezi, both of Cranston, are in their 80s and use walking canes; Boezi’s wife passed away a few years ago. The men’s “headquarters,” as Boezi puts it, is a Tim Hortons on Pontiac Avenue.

The friends, both World War II veterans who served with the Army in the Pacific and in Europe, found a perch on the steps overlooking the new World War II Memorial, in Memorial Park on South Main Street, a half-hour before yesterday’s dedication ceremony.

The dedication of the stately, eight-columned circular memorial, was too long in coming, the two said.

But, said 85-year old Baldinelli, “I’m just happy to be here to see this.”

Every year leaves the Greatest Generation with fewer and fewer of its living patriots. So, too, Baldinelli fears, does the memory fade of what the young men and women sacrificed.

“A lot of young people don’t know that World War II is the war that stopped other wars,” Baldinelli said. “America is not what it used to be. America is starting to fade away.

“We did what we had to do, and we served with pride.”

Hundreds of World War II veterans and their families, plus state dignitaries and dozens of younger servicemen and women, crowded Memorial Park in yesterday’s brisk sunshine to greet arriving marchers in a Veteran’s Day parade through downtown and dedicate the $1.3-million memorial, which had been in the works for four years.

The granite memorial honors the 2,562 Rhode Islanders who died in the war.

The ceremony applauded them and the memorial’s first champion, Joseph T. Corrente, of Cranston, a World War II veteran. Corrente was at yesterday’s ceremony and spoke briefly, although he has been plagued by illness in recent months.

“There are many hands that built this memorial, but there is one great heart, Joe Corrente,” U.S. Sen. Jack Reed told the crowd.

Yesterday’s message could be read in the patches worn by many of the men: “Vets don’t forget.”

The memorial, Reed said, is proof that “your victory will stand through all the ages.”

A volunteer commission in August revived a flagging campaign to raise nearly $600,000 to finish building the monument. Donations from 2,600 people — many of them veterans — ranging from as little as 50 cents to as much as $100,000, made the project possible. More is still needed.

One veteran’s letter typified the response, according to Cranston City Council President Aram G. Garabedian, a memorial commission member.

“He said, ‘Here’s my $5. Now get the damn thing done!’ ” Garabedian said, to knowing laughter.

“This monument is not only about the veterans, it is also about educating future generations that the freedom they enjoy is only secure as long as we are willing to sacrifice to preserve it,” Garabedian said.

Earlier yesterday, Raymond Rondeau attended Veterans Day services in his city, Woonsocket. He and his friend Tom Nunes, of West Warwick, are Korean War veterans, but they came to the Providence ceremony to support their fellow veterans.

“We all stick together,” Nunes said.

“You’re losing a lot of World War II vets every day,” Rondeau said. “To me, it was much too long” to build this memorial. “If it wasn’t for somebody taking the bull by the horns, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Like many of the ceremony’s speakers, Rondeau referred to the more than 3,000 Rhode Islanders who have served or are serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“There’s all this talk about the Iraq war, but people never stop and think what these guys are going through in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Rondeau said. “When we were fighting, we knew who the enemy was. They don’t.”

Frank Knight, of Warwick, managed to find his way through the crowd after the ceremony to view the plaque honoring the Pacific campaign. Knight, who turns 85 next month, served in the Navy for the entire length of the war on the minesweeper Motive.

“This is the greatest thing I have ever seen,” Knight said. “My heart is shaking.”

mwims@projo.com