As the patriotic music plays on Monday in front of Town Hall and the Cub Scouts plant the small American flags at the base of the historic doughboy monument, listen to the names being read. They are the names of young men from Verona who died in service to their country, from the Civil War to Vietnam.
Thanks to research done by Verona resident Rob Caruso, we know a little bit about who these men were in life and how they died. Caruso has created a profile for each on his website, Verona’s Heroes. Read about them, and remember their sacrifice:
Pvt. John E. Ahrendtsen (World War II)
Cpl. Arthur L. Albe (World War II)
EM Arthur J. Anderson (World War II)
Cpl. Ralph S. Buggeln (World War II)
Pvt. John H. Chidester (World War II)
Sgt. Daniel W. Conklin (World War II)
Lt. Edwin E. Courter (World War II)
Pvt. Benjamin F. Douglas (World War I)
Cpl. Hobart Earle (World War II)
Pvt. Constantine Emanuel (World War II)
Pvt. Robert O. Fielding (World War II)
Lt. John L. Gage (World War II)
Lt. Gordon T. Gates (World War II)
Lt. Gerald Daly Geoghegan (Vietnam)
Capt. David Q. Hammond (World War II)
Cpl. Anthony Hein (Vietnam)
Lt. William Hinrichs (World War II)
Pvt. Michael Kiefer (Civil War)
Sgt. Robert B. Klepzig (World War II)
Pvt. Michael C. Leone (World War II)
Sgt. Albert B. LeRoy (World War II)
LCPL Robert A. McCloskey (Vietnam)
Pvt. Winfield Scott McIntyre (World War I)
Lt. Nicholas F. Michetti (World War II)
Sgt. Peter F. Nicoulin (World War II)
Pvt. Max Novick (World War II)
Maj. Eugene Pabst (Vietnam)
Pvt. Walter S. Personett (Civil War)
Lt. James S. Randolph (World War II)
Lt. William A. Robertson, III (World War II)
CM George Schiabor (World War II)
Pvt. Edwin C. Smoot (World War II)
SPC Alan K. Taylor (Vietnam)
Lt. Joseph Watson Taylor (World War II)
Lt. Warren O. Van Winkle (World War II)
Pvt. John B. Wands, Jr. (World War II)
Pvt. Robert R. Whealdon (World War II)
Sgt. Charles Weller (World War II)
Lt. Robert R. Wilson (World War II)
MM Walter Budd Wimley (World War II)
Sgt. Frank G. Wittenweiler (World War I)
MM William A Wittenweiler, Jr. (World War II)
Sig. Thurston Fuller Woodford (World War II)
Caruso’s research became the basis for the street signs that you see on many intersections in town, which mark where these men lived before their service. The signs were unveiled in the 2015 Memorial Day Parade, which you can watch again below.
This year’s Verona Memorial Day parade will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 27, at Everett Field, and march west on Bloomfield Avenue to the Civic Center. A ceremony will be held on the steps of the Town Hall at the conclusion of the parade. Bloomfield Avenue will be closed to traffic beginning at 9:30 a.m. for about an hour.
