Posted on the trees around Port Chester’s Lyon Park are small brass memorials to each of the hometown residents killed in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
About 100 plaques have been installed since 1948, and 33 have gone missing, said Richard Cuddy, whose father is named among those lost in World War II. Cuddy is leading a $15,000 fundraising effort to replace the missing ones at $220 apiece, refurbish others with an acrylic finish for about $100 each and move the plaques from the trunk to the base of each tree. His goal is to finish the project by Veterans Day.
“If it doesn’t get done by my generation, it doesn’t get done,” Cuddy said.
Cuddy never knew his father, Major William V. Cuddy, a provost marshal for the U.S. Army Air Corps who was killed in a plane crash in northern Africa in 1943. He died a month before Richard Cuddy was born.
The restoration project was inspired by Cuddy’s involvement with the Adult WWII Orphans Network, for sons and daughters of Americans killed in the war. Every Memorial Day, he and a few other AWON members arrange for a flag to be flown at the Tunisia burial site.
Cuddy planned to visit the site in person in 2001, but his travel plans were derailed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The oak tree in Lyon Park, which has grown around the plaque, serves as a family memorial, at the corner of King Street and Putnam Avenue.
“This is the only plaque we have in this country for him,” Cuddy said.
Knowing that each of the plaques have a story, Cuddy is hoping to hear from other families of the servicemen listed below. For information contact him at westfair21@aol.com or 914-937-1592. Donations may be made before Sept. 15 by sending a check to:
Village of Port Chester
Indicate in memo “World War II Plaque Restoration”
C/o Village Clerk
222 Grace Church Street
Port Chester, NY 10573
World War II:
Pvt. Wallace Hains
Pfc. George Grescak
Gunnery Mate George Kozlowski
1st Lt. Alphonsz Guardino
Pfc. Frank Romzo
Pfc. Edward Pazona
Pfc. John McCann
Seaman 1st Class George Drummond
Seaman 1st Class Charles Marino
Pfc. Firmino Tucci
Sgt. Leonard Carriero
Sgt. Francis Touri
PFC Frederick Halka
Pvt. James Murray
Pvt. John Morello
Pfc. Paul Astrolka
Pfc. Joseph Zikas
PFC John Wasik
PFC Frank Doublas
Pvt. Daniel Ruvo
Corp. John Emmeluth
Cpl. William Clifford
1nd Lt. Joseph Bova
PFC Alexander Rich
T/Sgt. Thomas Curtis
Pfc. Dominick Cicatelli
Pvt. Anthony Fallanca
PFC Michael Ceruzzi
Pfc. Edward Kasmarski
Fireman Rudolph Quinn
Pvt. Rocco Tamucci
Korea:
Pvt. Anthony Cotroneo
Vietnam:
Pfc. Frank Howe
Pvc. Terrence Cather
Cpt. John Larkin
