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General News: Veterans Remember at the Public Library
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| These documents tell the story of John Chumas's capture by the Nazis and eventual release. |
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| Veteran Bill Pearson spoke with the children about his war experience. |
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| The children made cards for the veterans at Castle Point. |
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| Abby Mayer played his military bugle, dressed in full uniform. |
November 12, 2011
Military veterans took center stage on Friday, Veterans Day, at a daylong tribute put on by the Cornwall Public Library.
Following the annual Veterans tribute at the Cornwall memorial triangle, several veterans, including Abby Mayer, Graham Kelder, Buzz Soloman, Hector Torres and Bill Paxton came to the community room of the library to talk with young readers about their military experience. The youngsters came to speak with the veterans and to make cards thanking veterans that will be sent to the VA center in Castle Point.
The library staff had also created a Wall of Honor filled with photos of military men and women who served the country throughout the 20th century and up to today. Dean Satterly brought her husband’s WWII Army uniform and an unidentified person donated his Marine’s uniform for the display.
Library Director Karen LaRocca-Fels brought in an old newspaper clipping, a scrapbook and correspondence that helped tell the story of her grandfather, John Chumas, a Newburgh native who was a Nazi prisoner of war. Included was a letter that had been sent to John at the front that was returned, marked “missing.” Days later, a radiogram arrived with the news that Chumas was a German prisoner of war. LaRocca-Fels says her grandfather would never speak about his experience as a prisoner, but military records reveal that he was on a bombing mission over some airfields outside Paris, France, when the Germans hit the plane, setting it on fire and Chumas parachuted into enemy hands. Chumas remained a prisoner of war until the war ended in June 1945.
It was the first-hand stories told by the vets themselves that may have intrigued the young people the most. The children asked some tough questions about whether the vets still have scars or if they saw anybody die. The visiting vets answered the questions and put flags on a map of the world to show where they were stationed in various wars, from World War II through Vietnam.
With children’s book that helped to explain the war experience, like one about a visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall, the library staff outdid themselves to bring the importance of military service to the public.
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