BY SETH MANDEL
Staff Writer
MILLTOWN – Already adorned with the names of local war veterans, about 16 street signs will soon tell motorists not only where they’re going, but also where the roads’ namesakes have been.
An anonymous donor has given the Milltown Revitalization Committee $1,000 to have an additional 16 signs made in honor of soldiers from the borough who died in battle.
“The person had this specific project in mind,” said Bob Belloff, a member of the Revitalization Committee. “It wasn’t where they gave us a set amount and told us to go do whatever we wanted, this was actually this person’s idea.”
Belloff said he does not know the identity of the donor, but that the person does live in the borough.
Each of the combat veterans has a borough street named after him, but the signs will provide more information about each soldier.
“We’re going to hang the signs on the same pole as one of the street signs,” Belloff said. “Whichever is the most prominently traveled intersection of that street, that’s where we’re going to hang the signs.”
Each sign will have a blue background with a gold star, the veteran’s name, branch of service and the year the veteran was killed in action.
The heavy-gauge steel signs were designed by the committee and produced by a local business, the Bannister Co.
“We were told about the donation and its purpose, and then together the Revitalization Committee drew up some ideas for the signs,” Belloff said. “We just kind of kicked it around back and forth, and this is the design that we came up with.”
Belloff said most of the veterans were killed in World War II, though there is also one who was killed in the Vietnam War, and another in the Korean War.
The committee plans to present the signs at the May 22 meeting of the Borough Council. It has been advertising the project on local cable access Channel 22.
“What we want to do is encourage any relatives of these people to attend,” Belloff said. “We wanted to let them know about it and let them know that we would be honored by their attendance.”
At that council meeting, it is expected that the committee members and Borough Council will each hold a sign. Then, Belloff said, there will be a brief description of the project.
“We’re going to give a small speech saying that we wish to further honor these veterans who gave their lives,” Belloff said.
In March, Belloff, on behalf of the committee, wrote a letter to the mayor and council requesting permission to have the signs produced and put up around town. Belloff wrote that the borough has a tradition of honoring its war veterans, but that more details about the veterans’ service should be provided to the younger generation of borough youth.
“It would also be fitting to be able to remember and honor the day that each veteran made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their family and their country,” he wrote.
The council approved the request, and offered the committee the services of the Public Works Department to help put the signs up.
“I would say they enthusiastically embraced the project,” Belloff said.
As provided by Belloff, the names of the combat veterans are:
Franklin Bond Billings, William George Carina, Gilbert Nielsen Mathisen, George Moetz, Julian P. Desmet, John J. Fischer, George H. Hye, Brian Douglas Clayton, George Reynoux, Henry Potter, Leigh Pardun, Henry Kuhlthau, William Bernhardt, Joseph DeBonis, Michael Stardoub and Kenneth Zimmerman.