Veterans Day in Brighton

Veterans Day in Brighton

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(L) Brighton Town Supervisor William Moehle and Boy Scout Troop 77; (R) Moehle and Congressman-elect Joe Morelle. [Photo: David Kramer, 11/12/18]

My favorite spot in Brighton is a bench facing the American flag and the looming stainless steel American Eagle in the Veteran’s Memorial in Buckland Park where you can see wild turkey, deer, foxes and hear the staccato cacophony of languages emanating from the soccer fields. Every Memorial Day and Veterans Day, supporters and veterans gather for a flag ceremony honoring those who served.

(L) From On a stainless steel American Bald Eagle in Buckland Park and endorsing Sandra Frankel (R)

(L) From On a stainless steel American Bald Eagle in Buckland Park and endorsing Sandra Frankel (R) Flag at half mast to honor Louise Slaughter, Buckland Park, Brighton, 3/22/18

On a cool but pleasant Veterans Days about 80 people gathered at Buckland Park. The official ceremonies begun and ended with the posting and breaking of the colors by Boy Scout Troop 77.

Boy Scout Troop 77

Boy Scout Troop 77, posting and breaking the colors.

Today’s ceremony was tinged with sadness as we observed a Moment of Silence and honored the memory of James R. Vogel, Colonel, USMC and Brighton Town Council Member, who died in October.

Jim was instrumental and tireless in creating the Veteran’s Memorial.  At the very inception of the Memorial project, I attended one meeting in the basement of the Town Hall presided by Jim. Reflecting backwards, I realize how many evening hours Jim must have spent in that meeting room as the project inched towards its goal.

Congressman-elect Joe Morelle — leaving in a few hours for Washington, D.C. to be sworn into the 115 session of the US House of Representatives — recalled that no one asked him for more money than Jim. And, given the projects Jim supported, Joe never said no.

As seen in Memories of presidential visits on Election Day in Brighton, Jim told me the story of his attendance at JFK’s innagutration in 1961.  At the time, Jim was in the navy, living in Ohio. In a stroke of good luck, he was assigned to Kennedy’s inauguration as a kind of liaison representing Ohio. Jim remembers sitting near entertainer Eddie Albert and very close to the podium where Kennedy spoke. Jim also said it was unusually cold for Washington, D.C, somewhere between ten and twenty degrees.  The memory was well worth his freezing.

At that favorite bench. [Photo: Jen]

At that favorite bench. [Photo: Jen]

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Four Brighton High School graduates killed in Vietnam. The Walk on Honor at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park. 11/09/18. [Photo: David Kramer]

SEE ALSO

A ribbon cutting and the Pages of the Brighton Memorial Library

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Top. Chair and stature in memory of Michael J. Pernaselli in the Brighton Kiwanis Playground behind the library. Bottom: In front of the library, plaque and chair in memory of Chief Warrant Officer Eric A. Smith (1961 – 2003), killed in action in Iraq.

See Matt Bashore’s “Brighton Goes to War” in Historic Brighton Vol 18 No 4 Fall 2017, page 3

(L) David Hochstein in uniform; (R) Plaque in the lobby of East High School

(L) David Hochstein in uniform; (R) Plaque in the lobby of East High School from Remembering the fallen of the RCSD from America’s past wars

On Veteran’s Day at Buckland and Highland Parks. And the Moral Equivalent of War

The VA Health Care Rochester Outpatient Clinic on Westfall Road in Brighton. Outside the Clinic are seven flags: American, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Marines, and one for POWs/MIAs. Veteran's Day, 2015

The VA Health Care Rochester Outpatient Clinic on Westfall Road in Brighton. Outside the Clinic are seven flags: American, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Marines, and one for POWs/MIAs. Veteran’s Day, 2015

Mayor of the Twelve Corners Dunkin’ Donuts celebrates his 93nd birthday on D-Day. Three days later, Victor Angelo flew a bombing mission over Vienna

Every morning Victor Angelo can be found early at the Dunkin’ Donuts near Twelve Corners. Outside his Monroe Avenue home, 6/2/16. Victor is still going strong at 94.

After Parkland, discovering fallen Brightonians from World War Two

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In the lobby of Brighton High School, 3/14/18. See Young citizens show their mettle at the Brighton High School Walk Out

Rochestarians in World War One and the One Hundredth Anniversary of Château-Thierry

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A WWI veteran, Merrill is buried in the Brighton Cemetery is located at the end of Hoyt Place off Winton Road.

The Garden of Hope in Brighton: 9/11/18

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9/11/18, Brighton [Photo: David Kramer]

After Parkland, discovering fallen Brightonians from World War Two

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Cannon donated by the American Legion’s Brighton Post 1064 outside the Brighton Town Hall. The caption reads: “That Those Who Perished Shall Not Have Died in Vain.” 3/24/18

SEE ALSO 

When all was quiet on the western front on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 1918.

On Spanish-American War monuments in Rochester. And remembering the Buffalo Soldiers on Veteran’s Day

About The Author

dkramer3@naz.edu

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle  blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C  ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones.  So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.

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