| November 11th, 2009 |
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Here's an excerpt from my upcoming book HONOR ROLL: The World War II Dead of Amsterdam, NY:
Throughout the year 1943, each of the Eight Wards dedicated an Honor Roll for their men in service. Prayers were said, bands played, patriotic songs sung, flags waved, Veterans marched, Gold Star Mothers were introduced and admired. It was a continuous outpouring of affection, support, defiance and determination.
The last of them, the Second Ward monument on the grounds of the Academy Street School, was unveiled on Sunday, November 21, 1943. The principal speaker was New York Supreme Court Justice Christopher Heffernan, whose namesake son had died in the Bataan Death March. His words carried that burden, and responsibility:
Today the world is gripped by war. We are in the midst of the greatest war of all history. It has been brought on by the personal ambition of wicked and corrupt men. It is not a struggle for national supremacy. Its roots go far deeper. It is in very truth a world revolution that challenges all those principles of personal freedom, equality of right, impartial justice and popular sovereignty that are so dear to the hearts of all free men everywhere. In all the sorry pages of human history never has despotism stood forward more defiantly,never has it more brazenly announced its foul purposes, never have the rights of men and nations been more brutally assailed.
The present war is not merely for markets and territories; it is a struggle for the possession of the human soul. The civilized world is threatened by a sinister power which strikes directly at its moral foundations. Two philosophies of life are involved in deadly combat— the one based upon law, justice and human dignity; the other upon arbitrary will, violence and human slavery.( Read more... )
 
Buy my murder mystery The Evil Has Landed
and don't forget The Judge Report (THE BOOK) is now available, too!
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Today would have been the 91st birthday of Victor Fondacaro, had he not been killed in action in the service of his country at the age of 24. He was born the day World War I ended, and named Victor for the allied victory accomplished that day.
Remember him, and all who served.
Photo courtesy of his niece, Judy Fondacaro Brown. |
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San Diego has a walkway dedicated to "The Greatest Generation." More pics of that and the adjacent USS Midway here.
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