West Sayville FD Re-Dedicating War Memorial on Memorial Day

Patch thanks the West Sayville FD for providing this article. It was posted by Judy Mottl.

The West Sayville Fire Department will re-dedicate its War Memorial, located in front of the headquarters station of the West Sayville Fire Department, on Memorial Day weekend.

It has served in silent tribute to those young men of West Sayville who had made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country during World Wars I and II. Each year since 1949 these brave souls are remembered on Memorial Day for their role in defending peace and freedom throughout the world on our behalf.

In the more recent past the roll call has been expanded beyond the names memorialized on the bronze plaque to include all known residents of the West Sayville-Oakdale Fire District who had perished in service to our country.

The War Memorial was the product of a grassroots effort in West Sayville which began as a community project and ultimately was turned over to the fire department to complete.

Generous contributions from the local citizenry combined with the fire district’s consent to use a small plot of land in front of its firehouse led to the culmination of the project.

The centerpiece of the resulting park was a large native boulder from Long Island’s north shore adorned with a bronze plaque that bore the inscription, “Dedicated by the People of West Sayville in Honor of Those Who Served Their Country in World Wars I and II and in Memory of the Men Who Sacrificed Their Lives.”

Listed below that is the names of John Barkenbush, the sole loss in World War I, and Clarence Beintema, Clinton Kwaak, Herbert Kwaak and Eugene Paglia, all attributed to World War II.

Over the past year the West Sayville Fire Department and the West Sayville-Oakdale Fire District have worked hand-in-hand to enhance the War Memorial so as to reflect the conflicts the United States has been engaged in which were not contemplated at the time of its original dedication on May 30, 1949; namely the Civil War, Vietnam and Iraq.
Fortunately there were no known losses during the Korean War.

Additionally, the scope of residency has been expanded to include any address within the fire district at the time of entering into military
As a result of these efforts the War Memorial will be complimented by two simple but elegant Barre Granite stones, one each at the outside lower edge of the original stone, which will be etched with the names of all of the known war dead from Oakdale and West Sayville.

Each stone will measure about thirty inches wide, fourteen inches deep and sixteen inches high and feature a smooth oblique face in which the etchings will be made.

The left one will bear the inscription, “To Honor the Memory of Those Residents of the Communities Served by the West Sayville Fire Department Who Left Home in Defense of Our Nation Never to Return”, at the top followed by those local residents lost in the Civil War, World War I and World War II.

Added to the honor roll are the names of John H. Snedecor under the Civil War and Wesley W. Schmidt for World War II, both residents of Oakdale.

The right granite piece will continue the list with the names of West Sayville resident James P. McGrath and Francis V. Todarello of Oakdale, each a casualty of the Vietnam Conflict, and Matthew E. Baylis who gave his life while serving in Iraq. Space will be left for future local service personnel who may regretfully lose their lives in service to their country.

The lower edge of this stone will be etched with the closing phrase of, “Rededicated Memorial Day 2013 to Reflect the Ultimate Sacrifice Made in the Unending Effort to Protect and Preserve Freedom

As indicated along the lower edge of the right hand stone, the War Memorial, in its new configuration, will be rededicated on Memorial Day, May 27.

Fire Chief Robert Doucet will incorporate the ceremony into the annual Memorial Day program of the West Sayville Fire Department which is conducted on the ramp of the Headquarters building, Montauk Highway at Cherry Avenue, about one-half hour after the completion of the Memorial Day Parade in Sayville (approximately a 10:15 a.m. start time).

As always, local residents and community organizations, especially those representing our nation’s military veterans, are invited to join with the fire department at the headquarters building on Main Street at Cherry Avenue in West Sayville to remember the sacrifices made by these local heroes.