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WPCNR STARS AND STRIPES. By John F. Bailey. November 12, 2013:

I attended the Veterans Day Ceremony in White Plains Rural Cemetery Monday.  I met Ross Marsico,(above) the 90 year old  veteran of World War II who fought with the Third Army in France, Belgium and Germany. He was wounded by shrapnel, spent 45 days in a hospital THEN returned to active duty.

Mr. Marsico returned to the USA and spent 30 years as an active policeman in Harrison. He was honored as the 2013 Veteran’s Day Honoree

Mr. Marsico is a native of White Plains, just turned 90 yesterday, is an outstanding person to have the honor to meet. When he was asked questions how he felt about being  honored, he said he just represented all the other veterans and every day people who had served, that it was not about him. Then he teared up.

Veterans day makes you tear up.

Chaplain Bob Donnelly of American Legion Post 135 in the invocation observed that the gathering was there to honor persons who had written a “blank check to the United States of America, good for everything including their life in service to their country.”

Adele Zucker(above , Past President of Jewish War Veterans Ladies Auxiliary, said  Veterans day was to honor the veterans who came back and have contributed so much to their hometowns in addition to their military service. 

Chaplain Bob Donnelly noted that when he returned from the Vietnam war he was spat upon by a woman in an airport and called a baby killer, and observed today’s veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan  conflicts are much more respected.

Then came brief  inspiration remarks by the Mayor, Tom Roach, who proclaimed Monday Veteran’s Day in White Plains  and U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Jason Freeland(below)

Sergeant Freeland, in his most recent tour, was responsible for training Afghan army and police recruits. He is now head of recruiting for the Marines in White Plains. He mentioned how honored he was to be among the veterans attending, and how it was their and those like them who service that make it possible for him and today’s servicemen and women to perform and live up to the veterans’ example. This  truth was echoed again how you serve matters and it is an inspiration to those who come after you.

As the gathering left, the tent was folded, and the crowd drifted away, until another Memorial Day another Veterans Day.

I remained and watched the tombstones of the Revolutionary War Dead…names no longer readable on the stones, they still spoke as one.

Cemeteries like the White Plains Rural Cemetery inspire by the testimony of the simple stones, the tiny flags denoting veterans and the stones too of every day people of long ago who lived well. As I read their stones I wonder what their lives were like their thoughts, their actions in that long ago time.

Cemeteries are not places of regret, but, instead inspiration to ignite in us, with their  memories, to continue to work on our own lives and live up to the examples of persons like the veterans still with us and those who have departed.

Rifle Salute to the Departed Veterans by American Legion Post #135, was followed by Taps, played by Bob Freis

The veterans are getting older.

James Dwyer of American Legion Post 135 was scheduled  to read Flanders Field. He could not  due to illness according to Commander Jack Collins. This is the touching poem penned in World War I, Mr. Dywer would have read. He could not, so I will publish it for him.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders field

 

WPCNR STARS AND STRIPES. First published on WPCNR in November,2001:

Ninety-five years ago today, representatives of  the Allied Powers and  the Central Powers met in a railroad coach outside Paris and agreed to an armistice, ending World War I, the so-called “War to end all wars,” a war in which 10 million persons died.

Since that day, November 11 has been set aside as first Armistice Day, later changed to Veterans Day. White Plains CitizeNetReporter salutes and remembers and thanks our veterans on this day which recognizes how special they are.

On October 22 (2001) at “Washington’s Headquarters,” in White Plains, the Jacob Purdy House, the White Plains Historical Society recognized America’s first veterans. These were the men of White Plains who defended Chatterton Hill and Miller Hill from the advancing British army under General Howe.

GUNSMOKE REMEMBERS THE FIRST VETERANS. The militia men and volunteers who defended White Plains at the Battle of White Plains in 1776 were commemorated October 21, 2001 with a volley of remembrance at Jacob Purdy House.WPCNR PHOTo
An elite reenactment contingent of British troops gathered about the flagpole overlooking White Plains below. Old Glory was raised on the flagpole. A volley of gunfire from 18th Century muskets saluted the fallen from that long ago battle. The names of the residents of White Plains who died on those hills 225 years ago were solemnly read from a podium at the steps of the old red home.

The names of three White Plains citizens killed in the World Trade Center attack were added to this distinguished list of America’s first veterans, as Jack Harrington, President of the White Plains Historical Society oversaw the ceremonies.

It strikes WPCNR that these three 2001 citizens were much like those first veterans who defeneded White Plains in 1776. Those first veterans lay down their plows or crafts and took up arms when their town and country was threatened. Some citizens lost everything when British troops burned parts of White Plains after the battle.

We remember our fighting men and women on Veterans Day, because most of them were every day citizens called to duty who went out and did something they did not know they could do. Perform acts of heroism, bravery, losing their lives for the American way. Many were just kids themselves. For example, most B-17 pilots over Germany in World War II were in their early twenties.

NAMES OF AMERICA’S FIRST VETERANS ARE READ AT ENTRANCE TO JACOB PURDY HOUSE. Jack Harrington, President of White Plains Historical Society solemly conducts reading of the White Plains Honor Roll at Battle of White Plains ceremonies.WPCNR PHOTO

We can in no way, or through no motion picture know what any veteran experienced. The veterans who still are with us do not like to talk about their combat experiences. And they do not. One veteran of D-Day, asked what he thought of Saving Private Ryan and the realism of it, said the real D-Day was worse. However, veterans we have interviewed remark that they think of their combat experience every day. It is always with them.

It is inconceivable to me that I could ever be able to do what these men and women did. I would like to hope I could. However, the veterans have. They left ordinary lives as office workers, factory workers, farmers, accountants, and what have you and were able to go to war and “rise to the occasion,” or as they say today, “step it up to the next level.” The highest level.

MAYOR DELFINO UNVEILS HISTORICAL SIGNAGE AT BATTLE HILL. In another effort to commemorate America’s veterans, Mayor Joseph Delfino, working with New York State and local groups unveiled a series of permanent historical signs in Battle Hill-Whitney Park October 28 detailing the Battle Hill and Miller Hill battle grounds of the Battle of White Plains. It is the first effort to produce a heritage trail in the City of White Plains. Other markers of historically significant areas of the city are planned in the near future.WPCNR PHOTO

How should Armistice Day be observed? Well, a thought about the sacrifice of these veterans and those who died perhaps brings new vibrancy and dedication to the ideals for which they fought. A thought to what they considered important enough to leave a safe existence to fight for valiantly at great risk and high valour reinforces those sacred American standards: freedom, the pursuit of happiness, free speech, the big little things.

We should value the sacrifice of our local public defenders, the police, the firefighters, the enforcement officials who routinely do this to keep the fabric of American society safe. Thank you.