HILLSBOROUGH: Township remember its fallen heroes

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Hillsborough observed “a day of thoughtful sadness” on Saturday.
   That was Mayor Gloria McCauley’s capsule description of the breakfast, parade and wreath-laying ceremony as the township’s Memorial Day weekend tribute Saturday.
   Veterans in fatigues, camouflage T-shirts and various service caps filled the multi-purpose rooms of the municipal building for breakfast. Afterward, they were bused to the start of the parade route, and they walked or rode several blocks to chairs under a tent next to the reviewing stand in front of the Garden of Honor at the town complex.
   Ten wreaths were placed in front of plaques in the plaza.
   When co-grand marshal Armando “Monty” Consalvo’s time to say a few words came at the breakfast, he hesitated.
   ”I’m not a speaker,” he protested mildly.
   ”But you are a hero, my friend,” chipped in co-grand marshal Assemblyman Peter Biondi of Hillsborough, who came to know Mr. Consalvo this winter.
   Mr. Biondi had met Mr. Consalvo after the manager of the Branchburg mobile home park where Mr. Consalvo lives called Mr. Biondi’s office to say Mr. Consalvo had never received war medals to which he was entitled. That injustice was remedied when Mr. Consalvo received the medals at the Manville VFW on Pearl Harbor Day. Mr. Consalvo wore them on his blue blazer Saturday.
   Mr. Consalvo was in the Navy from 1942-45, and was on a ship in Tokyo Bay at the time of the Japanese surrender ceremony.
   To the audience, he said he knew men who had made the great sacrifice, to the sorrow of many, he said. “The harm that beset them also harmed the families,” he said.
   He made a simple request of the crowd.
   ”Not only today but whenever you meet a veteran or any war of the U.S., give them a smile, a handshake and just say ‘thank you,’   ” he asked.
   Mr. Consalvo was a veteran of 10 major battles — including the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Mariana Islands — on the destroyer USS Melvin and Oklahoma City as a seaman and gunnery officer.
   He’s proudest of a personal letter sent to him after the war by Secretary of Defense Henry Forrestal. No other veteran he’s asked had ever received one, he said.
   He attended Saturday with one of his 11 siblings, Elvira “Dolly” Kennedy of Hillsborough.
   The buffet breakfast featured remarks by local officials, music by the high school chorale, prayers and self-introductions by dozens of veterans.
   Mayor Gloria McCauley choked up when the lights were dimmed and single beams focused on a “table of honor and remembrance” featuring a red, white and blue floral arrangement in front of the podium.
   Congressman Leonard Lance said the calendar told us we were entering the 101 days of summer, but that was the “least significant part” of the weekend, he said.
   ”This is a time not of celebration, but of commemoration,” he said.
   He reminded the audience there were still 100,000 serving in Afghanistan, 47,000 in Iraq and 5,500 in Guantanamo, Cuba, where he had made a one-day visit recently.
   He was on his way to other events that day, but “you in Hillsborough have the most moving ceremony in the district,” he said. “No place thanks veterans better than Hillsborough Township.”
   One of the chorale’s offerings was a medley of service anthems; one vet admitted later he didn’t know his service’s song but was cajoled by a wisecracker sitting next to him to stand up for the Coast Guard hymn.
   Other veterans simply said their name and years and branch of service. There were sharpshooters, engineers, controllers, submarine corpsmen and more. Others added snippets of history. Nurse Mildred Murphy said she was on a ship taking injured veterans from the Battle of the Bulge. Ted Dima, who served in Vietnam in 1967-68, paid tribute to the 1,200 from the 196th Light Infantry who never made it back.
   One man talked how he saw his youngest brother 10 days before he was killed.
   On the parade route, neighbors sitting along the curb — in shade where they could — waved to friends and family in the line of march. Young children smiled at their fathers driving “mean green” fire trucks. Dozens of kids walked the route, scattering gum and candy along the side of the road for parade watchers to collect.
   Two young ladies came up to the car in which grand marshals Biondi and Consalvo were riding and gave them flowers, said the assemblyman. He didn’t know who they were, but he thanked them during his remarks.
   County Surrogate Frank Bruno got peace signs and shouts of “hippie” and “peace power” from kids when he drove his 1958 VW minibus with a bumper sticker of “zero to 60 in 11 minutes.” Still, he laughed at outlasting a 1923 Ford T pickup that overheated and had to stop.
   “”Wreaths were presented by Township Committee, police rescue squad, local fire companies, both political parties and the two senior citizens’ groups.
   Two active service men, Jon Lapidow and Chris Jaeger, were roundly applauded at the breakfast and raised the flag during later ceremonies.