Placing Flags on Rt. 82
Gayhead Second-Graders Salute Veterans
At the Nov. 10 Post 1758 membership meeting, post members in attendance thanked the children for their performance:
Fishkill Road Dedication (Nov. 7)
On November 7, Dutchess County and the Town of Fishkill came together to remember and honor three Fishkill former residents by dedicating three county roads in their memory. These men made the ultimate sacrifice for our country in Vietnam. Also remembered were the "Mount Beacon Eight" who were killed when their plane crashed into Mount Beacon during a storm on Nov. 11, 1945.
American Legion Post 1758 was asked to provide an honor guard for the event, and we complied. Carrying the POW flag, the American Legion flag and Old Glory were Bill Meyer, Lance Ashworth and Kevin Hines. Also in attendance representing our post were Jim Broughton, Bill Kriebel, Tom Masch, Commander Jim Reynolds and Bob Spinillo. Post member Hal Brilliant also attended as Fishkill deputy supervisor.
9-11 Remebrance Ceremony
Recovering a Desecrated Flag
Chris Edwards struggled to find the words to describe what he felt, finding the American flag in a portable toilet at Stanley Still Park in Poughkeepsie.
“Disrespect” was one word he chose.
Edwards, a retired New York City firefighter, discovered the flag was missing around 9 a.m. Wednesday while at a Poughkeepsie Senior League softball game. He said his friend Johnny Bellezza found the flag.
“I opened up the Porta Potty, and there was the American Flag and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” Edwards said. “There was human feces on it, urine on it, anything you could imagine.”
The 63-year-old said he and Bellezza, a Navy veteran, carried the flag to the other side of the park, where Edwards said the two of them cleaned it and hung it back up on its pole.
Town of Poughkeepsie Police Capt. Michael O’Dowd confirmed the department received a report that the flag was found in a portable toilet. As of Thursday, he said there are suspects. The department will be increasing patrols of all town parks, O’Dowd said.
The department is asking that anyone with information regarding the incident contact town police at 845-485-3666.
The senior league includes many veterans and retired first responders, said Edwards, who, as a firefighter, responded to the 9 ⁄ 11 terrorist attacks.
“This is just absolutely the most disrespectful act against the flag I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Edwards said. “I’m really choked up and upset, to see this, I mean I’m just so disgusted. People need to be held accountable for what they’ve done.”
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro took to Facebook to condemn the act against the flag, and encourage those responsible to come forward.
“This is entirely inexcusable and terribly disheartening,” Molinaro said. “Desecrating our flag, and damaging public property is insulting. We celebrate the right of all our neighbors to exercise and express their views and beliefs ... but not in this way. Not ever.”
It was the second act of vandalism against the American flag in the Hudson Valley in recent days. Last week the flagpole at Washingtonville’s 9/ 11 memorial was cut down.
On July 22, the Town of Poughkeepsie held a ceremony to raise the recovered flag at the Stanley Still Recreation Park. The event was led by Town Supervisor Jon J. Baisley who was joined by County Executive Marc Malinaro and state senator Sue Serino. They all presented certificates to Chris Edwards and John Bellezza the gentlemen who recovered the original flag from the port-a-potty. There was a nice turnout including some girl scouts and brownies.
Our post was the only veteran’s organization represented and we were acknowledged by all 3 speakers. There are 3 Legion Posts in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Post 1758 members attending the event were Don Burns, Jim Broughton, John Call, Bill Kriebel, Jay Livermore, Bill Meyer, Jim Reynolds and Ralph Schwartz
Flag Day Ceremony
Sunday, June 14, was Flag Day, and our usual practice is to hold a flag retirement ceremony in coordination with the Boy Scouts and Girl scouts. This year, because of the restrictions placed on us as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, our ceremony had to be small, so we did it alone. Members attending were: Lance Ashworth, Dan Briscoe, Don Burns, John Call, Norm Dauerer, Mark Graser, Kevin Hines, Bill Kriebel, Tom Masch, Bill Meyer, Don Muller, John Polasko, Commander Jim Reynolds and Ralph Schwartz.
Usually, we retire flags collected from collection boxes at various locations, which is a lot of flags, so the fire department attends because of the large conflagration created. To limit the number of people in attendance, we eliminated the fire department, meaning we could only retire a few flags. Those remaining are to be delivered to the Dutchess County Resource Recovery Agency which has the resources to properly dispose of them.
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- Post members offer final salute to flags to be retired
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- First Vice Commander Don Burns passes a flag to be retired to Commander Jim Reynolds
Flag Retrieval from Veterans' Graves
Saturday, May 30, post members assembled at St. Denis Cemetery to collect the flags we had placed on the grave sites of departed veterans. Members participating were: Jim Broughton, John Call, Kevin Hines, Bill Kriebel, John Lyons, Bill Meyer, Caroline Pogge, John Polasko, Commander Jim Reynolds, Joe Ryan and Karl Sokol. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, we were not able to meet socially prior to the task as we usually do.
Photo Slide Show
Memorial Day Activities
Monday, May 25 was Memorial Day, but the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic restrictions dampened normal activities. Post 1758 held a limited ceremony at the East Fishkill Veterans Memorial, and later, a Dutchess County-sponsored vehicle convoy passed through the village, past the memorial, and on to further circumvent the county via Beekman Road. The town's videographer recorded the events in the first video following:
Ceremony at East Fishkill Veterans Memorial
Dutchess County Memorial Day Convoy
Photo Slide Show
Cemetery Flag Placement - May 16
On May 16, Post members assembled at St. Denis Cemetery to place flags next to the headstones on veteran's graves. Carolyn Pogge, Norm Dauerer, Tom Masch, Don Burns Bill Myers, John Lyons, Kevin Hines, Lance Ashworth, Jim Broughton, Bill Kriebel, Dan Brisco, Jeff Boes, John Call and Jim Reynolds participated. Also participating were members of our EF community: Sue Gartner, Cathy Reynolds, Olivia Parker, Grace Sestito and Jacob Call. After completing their work at St. Denis, the party proceeded to the Hopewell Reform Cemetery.
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Saint Patrick's Parade in Wappingers Falls - March 7
Post 1758 members Bill Meyer, John Call, and Bill Kriebel marched along with Frank Steinbuch and 2 others (sorry I didn't get the names) from Post 427, and Nathan Grant from Post 37 represented the American Legion well. Norm Daurer and Tom Masch brought their always popular jeeps which transported Commander Jim Reynolds and Dan Oberhauser. Tom also towed our Bofers 37mm anti-tank gun.
Click on gallery image to enlarge
