New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Nearly 400 wreaths laid to honor deceased vets
DERBY — The icy walkways, snowpacked grounds or below freezing temperatures could have kept nearly 150 people from laying wreaths on the graves of veterans during the Valley’s first-ever Wreaths Across America event at St. Michael’s Cemetery Saturday.
“This is so typical of the Valley and the way its residents respond,” John Rak said as he looked over the crowd of residents and dignitaries participating. “All these people coming out in 25-degree temperatures a week before Christmas to honor our veterans. It makes you proud.”
Rak and his wife Monica are the parents of Michael, a U.S. Navy captain. But their ties to military service start long before him.
Standing in front of Josephine Rak’s grave, John remembers his aunt serving as a Women’s Army Corps nurse stationed in England during the D-Day invasion.
“She was over 30 at the time, but she felt it was something she had to do,” Rak said.
Then there’s Adam Strzelec, Monica’s father, upon whose grave another wreath was laid. Strzelec served in Poland’s army but was captured during the early days of Germany’s invasion of his country.
“He spent the war in a German work camp,” Monica Rak said. “He told us he kept his stomach filled by eating grass and stones.”
About 400 wreaths were laid Saturday morning during the event arranged by Pauline Totaro, the Catholic War Veterans Post 1562 Auxiliary president. Her son, Jason, a U.S. Army veteran, participates in the annual Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery.
“I’d like this to became an annual event in the Valley,” Totaro said. “We
could have it at a different cemetery every December.”
But unlike most Wreaths Across America event, there was no caravan of trucks and vehicles making the ceremonial delivery to the cemetery. Thursday’s snow kept that away.
“We had our hands filled shoveling, plowing and salting to get this ready,” said Ron Sill, who manages St. Michael’s Cemetery and is a longtime alderman representing Derby’s First Ward. “Because we knew the storm was coming, they delivered the wreaths in a tractor trailer on Wednesday. Firefighters helped us unload them and we stored them until today.”
Kevin Zak said he saw a bald eagle fly over the cemetery before the start of the ceremony.
“That was pretty symbolic and on cue,” he said.
Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti served as master of ceremonies during the event.
“Lying here before us and in cemeteries throughout this nation are men and women who gave their lives so that we can live in freedom and without fear,” Cassetti said. “America has always been the first nation to stand up for the freedom of people from around the world. Many of you here today have answered that call and served
your country well. We are here today to say thank you and we are honored to know you.”
The mayor quoted President Ronald Reagan, who said: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction ... It must be fought for, protected and handed on for (our children) to do the same, or one day, we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States were men were free.”
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis called dignitaries up to post a wreath in honor of each branch of the military service.
Derby Mayor Richard Dziekan, a U.S. Air Force veteran, laid a wreath for the U.S. Marine Corps, while Richard Barrows did so for the U.S. Air Force. Ed Sharkey did for the U.S. Army; Tom Voytek did for the U.S. Navy and Michael Kasinskas, the Catholic War Veterans national executive director, laid one for the U.S. Coast Guard. Rebecca Goddard, principal of Ansonia’s Assumption School laid a wreath for the U.S. Merchant Marines.
The last wreath was placed by state Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, R-Seymour, in memory of the 93,129 Americans who are still missing in action or never returned from prisoner of war camps.
“Look at the all tombstones
bearing a flag,” Dziekan said following the ceremony. “It’s a testament to how well represented Derby and the rest of the Valley were.”
Walter “Buster” Jadach, of Derby, along with his sister, Cindee DeGennaro and her husband, Fran, can attest to that.
They lost an uncle, Joseph Skiba, on July 5, 1944. He was killed on the island of Saipan during Operation Forager, often referred to as the Pacific’s DDay. Jadach and DeGennaro’s father, Walter, Sr., who is buried in the cemetery, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps.
“I’ve been buying the Patriot Pair of wreaths for the past five or six years,” she said. “One gets placed here and the other during the ceremony at the Arlington National Cemetery. That’s on my bucket list — to go to the (Wreaths Across America) ceremony at Arlington.