Honoring Troy’s veterans
The Record is reprinting the profiles of two veterans being recognized on banners being hung throughout Troy by the Troy Military Banners Committee because of technical problems with the banner photos. Every Sunday through Veteran’s Day, The Record will publish brief profiles of the brave men and women recognized by their family and friends with banners. To honor a veteran, contact the committee by email at troybanners@gmail.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com.
Francis Brown
Brown was a U.S. Navy quartermaster stationed on the USS Liberty who was among 34 crew members killed when the technical research ship was attacked June 8, 1967, by Israeli jet fighters and motor torpedo boats in international waters north of the Sinai peninsula during the SixDay War with Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Isreal later apologized for the attack, claiming its military had mistaken the ship for an Eqyptian ship, and paid nearly $13 million to the U.S. government and families of the victims. According to the book “Assault on the Liberty,” by James Ennes Jr., a junior officer who was on the ship’s bridge at the time of the attack, Brown was the senior enlisted man on duty at that time. “Friendly, hard-working, cooperative, Brown was a popular member of the bridge team,” Ennes wrote. “I was always pleased when Brown was on duty with me. He never needed to be told what to do.”
Ennes wrote that Brown took the helm of the ship when the helmsman was wounded by rocket fragments.
“Heavy machine-gun fire from the boats saturated the bridge,” Ennes wrote. “A single hardened steel, armor-piercing bullet penetrated the chart house, skimmed under the Loran receiver, destroyed an office paper punch machine, and passed through an open door into the pilothouse with just enough remaining force to bury half its length in the back of the neck of brave young helmsman Quartermaster Francis Brown, who died instantly.” Brown was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, an award second only to the Medal of Honor.
Martin G. Mahar
Mahar, a decorated U.S. Marine Corps veteran who took part in some of the most pivotal battles of World War II, earned a place among New York state’s elite veterans through decades of tireless
service to his community. Mahar, a paratrooper, first saw action at Guadalcanal and later on other islands in the Pacific theater. He earned a Bronze Star at Bougainville and a Presidential Unit Citation and a Purple Heart for serious injuries he sustained during 13 days of combat at Iwo Jima. Mahar was presented with a total of four battle stars during his tour of duty.
After returning to his hometown of Troy, Mahar opened his own business, the Viaduct Bar and Grill, and spent a 30-year career with the U.S. Postal Service. He was a fixture in the Lansingburgh neighborhood,
where, along with his wife of 57 years, the late Marion Chapman Mahar, he raised two sons and four daughters. Mahar served as Troy mayor from 1990-91, after previously serving as deputy mayor and a city council during a decade of public service.
Mahar also served as the first chairman of the Troy Uncle Sam Committee, which originally proposed designating Troy as the “Home of Uncle Sam.” He was a past commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart and was active in other veterans’ organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Veterans of Lansingburgh.
Taken from Mahar’s 2005 induction profile for the New York State Senate Veterans’ Hall of Fame.