Veterans’ Day: A Time Of Remembrance

By Kaaren Valenta

Bill Polk, 85, is blind now. But the World War II veteran and former prisoner of war listened intently as Donald Monckton of VFW Post 309 read “What Is A Veteran?” during the Veterans’ Day ceremony at the post on Tinkerfield Road.

Afterwards, several Boy Scouts, members of Troop 770, presented Mr Polk and other veterans with letters thanking them for their courage and service to the country.

“It was very moving,” Mr Polk said. A member of the VFW post in Fairfield, Mr Polk has lived with his daughter, Jeanne Young, in Newtown for three years.

“I joined the service in 1943 and was a gunner on a B-17,” Mr Polk said. “We were shot down over Hamburg, Germany, and I was a prisoner of war in Riga, Latvia, from 1944 to 45. I’ll never forget that it was June 6 when we were told that the allies were coming so we were forced to walk all the way back to Germany.”

Mr Polk was among several dozen veterans, many of them scout leaders, who attended the ceremony along with hundreds of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts from 16 troops in the Scatacook district of the Connecticut Yankee Council. First Selectman Herb Rosenthal addressed the veterans, thanking them for risking, and giving, their lives to safeguard democracy.

Flowers and wreaths were laid at a replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, made by Troop 270 of Newtown. The tomb later was transported to Fairfield Hills, where the scouts were holding a weekend camporee that included a variety of programs and activities all focused on Veterans’ Day.

“It was sort of a living history program,” Don Monckton said. The leader of Troop 770 and an organizer of the camporee, he said that as soon as he realized that Veterans’ Day fell on a weekend, he knew what the theme of the camporee should be.

“It was an excellent opportunity to educate the scouts about all that Veterans’ Day signifies,” he said.