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HONORING OUR VETERANS FOR GENERATIONS TO COME
Legislative Column by New York State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio
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Recently, I had the distinct honor to speak at the rededication of a plaque honoring World War I veterans. The plaque at the Seneca Falls library previously hung in the entrance wall to the former Mynderse library. I'd like to thank all of the veterans who worked so hard to make sure that the plaque found a new home in the beautiful new library in Seneca Falls. Veteran Jack Mahoney and Ron Reynolds, Commander of the Kirk Casey Post of the American Legion, deserve a special thanks for their efforts.
This world is a troubled world but, throughout American history, our country has been made secure through the sacrifices of our veterans.
I can still remember the day when I first learned what it meant to be a veteran and what it meant to sacrifice oneself to a cause greater than any one individual. When I was growing up, I lived across the street from a great man named Deek VanCleef. Deek was a World War I veteran, the only veteran from that war that I had the honor to know. He was not just a family friend, he was known to me as "Uncle Deek".
Uncle Deek was the kind of man that would help out my parents whenever they needed a hand and would often spend time with me and my brothers. It was through conversations with Uncle Deek that I learned what it must have been like to serve in WWI, to live in a trench, to serve in combat, and to shed blood to ensure that the American way of life continued. Uncle Deek would tell me how men would spend months on end defending their territory through trench warfare, a grueling, demanding and often deadly task. It was Uncle Deek that shared his stories and taught me about such battles at the Battle of the Aragon Forest.
As a young man, I used to spend time in the old Mynderse library and pass by the World War I memorial plaque that new stands in the new Seneca Falls library. It was that plaque and Uncle Deek's stories that made me want to learn more about World War I and to learn more about that critical time in our nation's history.
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