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closeCLARENCE — The names of 70 men and women from the Mountaintop region who have served in the U.S. military were read aloud Sunday before a crowd that gathered on the lawn of the American Legion Cartwright-Martin Post 813.
Craig Houtz
Veterans during the singing of the National Anthem during a Veterans Day Service at The American Legion Post 813 on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. CDT/Craig Houtz
The list included eight surviving World War II veterans, and dozens of other locals who represent service during every major war and conflict since.
The post auxiliary spent weeks compiling the list, and formally inviting all veterans from the area to come to a recognition ceremony and a free dinner at the hall and were rewarded by a packed dining room.
Included among the 65 veterans who attended the event was possibly the oldest veteran present, 89-year-old Edward Drapcho Sr., who was in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945.
“It’s rare to see this kind of support from the community,” said Mike Repasky, a Snow Shoe resident who served in the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Guam from 1987 to 1991. “It just makes you feel good.”
Linda Bressler, president of the auxiliary, and her husband, John, the post adjutant, came up with idea of finding and inviting every veteran from the area. She said it was “awesome” to see the long line of veterans being saluted by the honor guard on the lawn of the post on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
“When I think of veterans the word that comes to mind is sacrifice,” said Sen. Jake Corman,
R-Benner Township, who was invited to speak. “The sacrifice of giving up time in your lives to go ... and of course the ultimate sacrifice for some.”
Corman said that in order to go beyond simply honoring service members on Veterans Day “we need to live in a spirit of community in this country and be worthy of their sacrifice.”
Emro Danko, who was enjoying a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes inside the post, said he was “19 and right out of high school” when he joined the Army in 1945.
The Clarence man recalled missing his family and hometown while he was away and didn’t enjoy being stationed in China, Burma and India. But he said he made some lifelong friends in the service and would do it again if he was asked.
Dave Swabick, 25, represents the younger face of the post.
The Clarence man served two tours in Iraq in 2004 and 2007 with the Marine Corps Reserve before coming home to work in forestry for the state’s Department of Conservation of Natural Resources.
He recently joined the post’s honor guard when he found out they needed some younger members.
Six members of the legion’s 30-member guard gave a six-gun salute and played taps on the bugle for Sunday’s observance.
It was Swabick’s first Veterans Day service, he said, and it reminded him of all the sacrifice that older veterans have made before him.
“I’m glad they’re here,” he said. “I give them all my respect.”
The packed hall of close knit community members was especially comforting to Bobbi Jo Jodon, whose husband, Army Sgt. Andrew Ryan Jodon, was killed in Iraq on May 12, 2005.
“Veterans Day, Memorial Day and May are really hard,” she said as she took a break from serving food to veterans. “When he was home he was in the honor guard here so when I see those guys I always think of him.”
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