Veterans Day Observed At VFW Post 308

By Eliza Hallabeck

While speaking before the gathered audience at Newtown’s VFW Post to honor veterans past and present on Sunday, November 11, Army veteran Don Monckton said he has had the pleasure to speak to many veterans throughout the years.

“One thing that I seem to have found in common with most veterans is their modesty about their service,” said the retired sergeant. “Most veterans do not give themselves enough credit for what they have achieved.”

People choose to join the military for many reasons, Mr Monckton said.

“Most don’t think of the personal sacrifices that they and their families are going to be making very shortly,” Mr Monckton said. “It is only afterwards that a veteran realizes what he has gotten himself into.”

When he enlisted, he explained it was another adventure, and he did not think about the impact it would have on his mother, father, and sister.

“I never realized that my service had such an impact on my family until I had to watch my own sons when they deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq,” said Mr Monckton.

Like the veterans before them, Sgt Monckton said, his three sons returned home and moved on to college, getting a job, and raising a family.

“Most veterans that I have spoken with never realize the importance of their contribution to this great nation. They don’t realize that without their sacrifice and service, this country would not be the free nation that it is,” said Mr Monckton.

He asked the veterans present not to minimize their service to the country.

“Whether you served overseas or stateside,” said Mr Monckton, “whether you served during wartime or peacetime, what is important is that you were willing to be there for when your country needed you. And it always needs young men and young women to serve in the military to protect our freedoms.”

When she spoke during the event, First Selectman Pat Llodra thanked veterans on behalf of the town for their service.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we are better place, all of us — the town as well as the country, the state, and the world — because you have been willing to sacrifice for all of us, the pleasures and the opportunities and the privileges that we gain from your service and practice every day,” said Mrs Llodra.

Mrs Llodra noted three men— Supply Sergeant Henry Gunther of Maryland who died at 10:59 am on November 11, 1918, as the last soldier killed in action in World War I; Navy Seal Brian Bill of Stamford who died on August 6, 2011, in Afghanistan when an attack downed the helicopter he and roughly 30 others were in; and Manny Ramirez of New Britain who served in Afghanistan, where he lost his right arm, an eye, and most of his hearing, who has a new home in Glastonbury thanks to the efforts of the Homes for Heroes foundation.

“There’s thousands, and thousands, and thousands of veterans,” said Mrs Llodra, “and I can’t find a way to thank all of them for their service. So I thank those three men … Two of them are not with us, if they were, we would be thanking them too. I thank them through you. The two men who died in our service, that is Henry Gunther and Brian Bill, and the third one, Manny Ramirez, who I want to have a wonderful productive life in his new home in Glastonbury. And I want him to know that we value his service. All of you who are veterans, you represent the goodness that we are as a nation, and I thank you sincerely for me and on behalf of the town.”

VFW Post 308 Commander James Rebman also spoke during the event. A retired master sergeant with the US Air Reserve, Mr Rebman said he recently visited local monuments in town and counted the veterans listed there. Veterans, he said, make up roughly 15 percent of the country’s population.

Mr Rebman also noted the effort to have artist David Merrill create a mural that will honor the town’s veterans past and present, by the Project Newtown Troops and Veterans.

He said the project is expected to have a grand opening in May, and names are needed of veterans servicemen and women.

“That’s going to be the biggest job of all,” he added.

Residents with information on a veteran past or present should contact Laurie McCollum at 203-788-4079 or LaurieM30@sbcglobal.net.

The ceremony of placing tributes in remembrance of fallen comrades concluded Sunday’s ceremony.