Township plans to replace veterans memorial

The new design will include veterans of all wars.

By: Linda Seida
   WEST AMWELL — The Historic Preservation Committee plans to replace the township’s deteriorating veterans memorial, and the new design will make it inclusive of the veterans of all wars for the first time.
   The current memorial, a white-painted wooden structure, sits at the former municipal building on Mt. Airy Village Road. It lists the names of only 83 men and women who served in World War II.
   In 2005, the township’s Road Department made emergency repairs to the honor roll to stabilize it.
   The Township Committee asked the Historic Preservation Committee to take on this project because of the sad shape the current memorial is in, according to committee Chairwoman Ruth Hall.
   No design has been chosen yet, but among the first steps is the compilation of a thorough list of veterans who hailed from West Amwell. After a brief stint of initial research, the list has swelled to about 135 men and women who served in World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Desert Shield and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
   The committee needs help to discover the names of the rest of the township’s men and women who served in the armed forces. Some names will come from searches of cemeteries and the graves of vets who served in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and World War I.
   Volunteers also are needed for a subcommittee that will be formed to work on a variety of issues related to the new memorial, including fundraising, according to Ms. Hall.
   "It’s going to take many hands to pull this project together," she said.
   The committee knows of only six surviving World War II veterans — Ed Nalence, Les Parsons, Jeanette Stoy-Wosko, Emily Nalence, Henry Zavit and Lou Simonye. Three of them — Mr. Nalence, Mr. Parsons and Ms. Stoy-Wosko — met recently with the commission to discuss the plan for a new memorial.
   Ms. Hall told them, "The Historic Preservation Committee would like to replace the current honor roll with something that can stand the test of time, both artistically and structurally, and that will honor all township veterans who, like you, have served in our country’s military conflicts."
   Mr. Nalence, 84, now lives in Lambertville. The deteriorating honor roll lists his name as well as the names of his two brothers, John and Gabe, and their sister, Emily.
   During the war, Mr. Nalence served in the Navy as a coxswain aboard the USS Bryant. His wife, Josephine, was a civilian who worked on the Avenger aircraft’s rudder and elevator controls in a Trenton factory. Neither of them minds changing the honor roll to include veterans of other wars because all the men and women gave their time and in some instances their lives for their country, Mrs. Nalence said.
   Another township resident, Ms. Stoy-Wosko, who now lives in Pennington, was a first lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps. As head Army nurse in the surgical and psych wards, she served in England, Iceland and Scotland, according to her niece, Joan Smith, a member of the committee.
   The committee’s immediate plans are to attempt to contact each of the veterans listed and/or their families and ask them to share photos and biographical information.
   Persons interested in serving on the new subcommittee or who can contribute the names of township veterans, may phone Ms. Hall at 397- 0425.