Village adds names to Vietnam Veterans Memorial Monument
GREEN ISLAND, N.Y. » Village officials held a special ceremony Sunday to add two names to the village’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Monument.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Monument was erected in 1982 to honor Vietnam Veterans from Green Island who gave the ultimate sacrifice or returned home after the war.
The commemoration ceremony was held to honor Vietnam Veterans Garrett Hartshorn, U. S. Coast Guard (1967-1971) and Garrett Schnapp ( U. S. Navy (1965- 1969), U.S. Coast Guard ( 1972T 1977). Both veterans, now deceased, will join their fellow Green Islanders as their names were added to the monument.
Their names, omitted from the monument but their service never forgotten, were brought forward by a diligent group of citizens who reported their military records to village officials, who moved quickly to get their names added to the monument.
Garrett Hartshorn, a Seaman 3.C was deployed to Vietnam and served aboard rapidly moving patrol boats, called PBR’s, which swept the channels of the Mekong River, keeping U.S. troops and supplies moving freely to their combat positions and clearing the enemy from the riverbanks. Often under enemy fire, the duty was considered so hazardous that men volunteered for this, they weren’t assigned to it. Hartshorn also successfully saved the lives of five separate people in water rescues. He received his high school diploma (posthumously)
from Heatly High School in May of 2018. His final Coast Guard ranking was Seaman 3.C, Petty Officer 1st Class (E- 6).
Garrett Schnapp was an Aviation Structural Mechanic 3.C, Petty Officer 1st Class (E- 6) in the U.S. Navy. He was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Hancock and deployed to the Gulf of Tonkin from July 18, 1968 to March 3, 1969. He was part of Air Attack Squadron 164, known as the Ghostriders. The Hancock took part in Operation Rolling Thunder, an all- out bombing campaign of North Vietnam that ended in October of 1968. The Hancock was then assigned to the Korean Peninsula between November- December 1968; it’s presence helping to secure the release of sailors of the USS Pueblo who were captured by the North Koreans. The USS Hancock returned to Vietnam and continued its 24/7 bombing of North Vietnam. Schnapp was honorably discharged in the summer of 1969. The Ghostriders never lost a plane or a pilot to enemy action during this time.
Garrett Schnapp enlisted in the Coast Guard and served from 1972- 1977. He was deployed to Kodiak Air Base in Alaska. His maintenance unit, whose motto was “keep em flyin” received unit commendation medals from the Coast Guard for flying over 3500 missions and over 10,000 hours of search and res- cue, law enforcement and environmental protection missions between 1974 and 1976. They received a second unit commendation medal for preventing an international incident with the Soviet Union by helping to refloat a Soviet ship that ran aground in U. S. waters. Schnapp was honorably discharged in 1977 as an Aviation Structural Mechanic 3.C. Petty Officer 1st Class ( E- 6). After he died in 2000, he donated his body to Albany Medical Center for medical research.
Mayor Ellen McNultyRyan stated, “I am proud that as Mayor of this community, our residents never forget their veterans. To- day is an example, as we add the names of two deserving men who sacrificed a lot for our Country and community by going to faraway places fighting for the freedoms that we all enjoy today. The actions of Garrett Hartshorn and Garrett Schnapp saved the lives of many American soldiers during their time of service and we are grateful to them and their families. I am happy to be present today as we add these two names to be etched on this monument for as long as it stands.”
Program Organizer Tom Mullins stated, “I always think it is important to pay tribute to our veterans for their service and being here today is one way we can do that.”