By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
OLEAN — Mayor Bill Aiello focused on the deaths of six Olean servicemen in the Vietnam War during his keynote address during Memorial Day ceremonies Monday in Lincoln Park.
Aiello, who thanked the Olean American Legion Commander Shaun App for organizing the annual event, said, “As a community, it is an excellent way to start the summer.” Terry Vaughan, VFW commander, was also in attendance.
Several hundred people including veterans and their families attended the ceremonies at the Lincoln Park Pavilion.
Aiello highlighted the service of:
- Lt. Col. Edwin Goodrich Jr., who was shot down on a reconnaissance flight over North Vietnam in 1967. He was a 1953 graduate of Olean HIgh School. “Many people wore a POW bracelet bearing his name,” Aiello said.
- Daniel Harvey, a 1954 OHS graduate was killed in action during a mortar attack in 1968. An operating room technician, he once volunteered to help perform and amputation on a wounded soldier with a live rocket embedded in the wound.
- Lt. Dennis Edward Montague of the Class of 1960, was 26 when he died during the Tet offensive when the North Vietnamese attacked the ship he was stationed on in the Tonkin Gulf.
- First Lt. John Godfrey, a 1962 OHS grad, died in action in Vietnam in 1968 from a hand grenade explosion.
- Donald Bailey, a 1967 Olean graduate, was paralyzed from the neck down by a sniper’s bullet in 1969. He learned to paint with a brush in his mouth. He died of septic shock in 1972 in a VA hospital in Beacon, NY. He was 23.
- Charles Vaughn Dupre was 20 years old when he died in 1969 of wounds he received in hostile action.
The mayor said, Please let these touching stories of our neighbors and friends remind you of who we are honoring today — the men and women whop bravely gave their lives for our freedom and who left behind devastated family members and frien ds who kiss them every day.”
John Gordnier of the Portville American Legion served as master of ceremonies. He introduced Cathy Young, the former state assemblyman and senator representing this area who was last week elected to the Olean Board of Education.
Young said, “On this Memorial Day, we come together as a community and as a nation to remember and honor the courageous men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country so we can live freely as Americans. Their memory is etched into our hearts forever.”
Memorial Day is rooted in the U.S. Civil War, Young said, listing several Cattaraugus County soldiers who fought and died in the Civil War. They include:
- Cpl. Thomas R. Aldrich, who was captured at the Battle of Dug Gap in Georgia and jailed at Andersonville and elsewhere.
- Second Lt. John Badgero, who wrote his son a letter in October 1862, about the possibility he would not return from battle. “If I do not you must remember your father died fighting for the best government the sun ever shone upon.”
- Pvt. Barzilla Merril wrote in October 1862, “ I came her because I thought it was my duty to come and I expect to stand up like a man and do my duty.” He was killed with his son Alva at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., in 1863.
“Today, its is as important as ever to carry on this spirit of service and cherish the freedoms we enjoy so that future generations may also thrive in America,” Young said.
The Olean High School Band performed the “National Anthem” and the High School Chorus sang “America.”
In his remarks, Assemblyman Joe Sempolinski said, “We’ve been so lucky as Americans that each generation, whether its the Revolutionary War, or the Civil War or World War II or Vietnam or any of the other conflicts that we have had in our history, every time, generation after generation, people have stepped up and have been willing to serve and have been willing to die.”
The Rev. Kim Rossi of St. Stephen’s Episcopal and Bethany Lutheran churches, offered the invocation and benediction prayers.
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