Byram Vets Ceremony Honors 13 Byram School Alumni Who Gave Their Lives for Their Country

Every year in Byram’s Eugene Mortlot Park Memorial Park there is a solemn ceremony hosted by the Byram Veterans. The park is named after Mr. Morlot who was a custodian at the former Byram School. He wanted to honor the memory of the alumni of the former Byram School who lost their lives in World War II. In 1946 he raised funds to purchase and plant trees in a grassy area near the school to honor 10 former students who died during World War ll.

Sometime later, three additional trees were added to honor former students killed in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

At some point, brass nameplates in concrete bases were placed at each tree.

Eugene Morlot Memorial Park was dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov 11, 1989 in memory of alumni of Byram School who lost their lives in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Each year on Memorial Day at 10:00am families of the 13 Byram School alumni stand quietly beside the tree and marker of their family member.

May 27, 2024 was no different. The rain held off and Jim Ferreira from the Byram Veterans Association read aloud the names of all 13 men:

Quarter Master, Joseph P. Tiriolo – Merchant Marine off the coast of Delaware. Died January 26, 1942

Seaman 2nd Class, Joseph L. Vrtiak, Jr. – US Navy off Beach Salerno, Italy. Died, Sept 9, 1943.

Private 1st Class, Alfred W. Dickens – US Army Pacific Area. Died Nov 6, 1943.

Corporal, Andrew Hrnciar Jr – US Army Italy. Died Feb 23, 1044.

Staff Sergeant, Harry Raymond Lambertson Jr – Army Air Corps over North Sea. Died Feb 25, 1944.

Private 1st Class, Dominick Crucitti – Amphibious Air Ground Engineer, Dutch New Guinea. Died May 18, 1944.

Sergeant Chester Harrison Arthur – US Army, Italy. Died Nov 5, 1944.

Lieutenant William George Patterson – Army air Corps over China. Died Dec 27, 1944.

Private Donald Augustine Steinmetz – US Army Camp Wheeler Georgia. Died April 21, 1945.

Seaman 1st Class John Irving Welby – Coast Guard Portsmouth Virginia. Died May 25, 1945.

Private 1st Class, Anthony J Cotroneo – USMC Korea. Died Nov 1, 1951.

Private 1st Class, Joseph A.Pecora, Jr – US Armed Forces Vietnam. Died May 3, 1966.

Corporal Donald Sheldon Repaci – US Army, Vietnam. Died March 24, 1969.

A moment of silence gave time to take in the beauty of the oak and sycamore trees that reach into the sky to form a shady canopy.

 

Liz Eckert read aloud a poem written by Robert G. Lacey back in 1984. Lacey enlisted in the US Navy back in June of 1957 and was assigned to the 336 USS Roy O. Hale, a destroyer escort with its home port in Newport, RI. After he was discharged from active duty in the Navy in 1961, he joined Greenwich Police Dept.

A rusty flagpole standing bare, its brass globe to the sky.

No more its halyard line will sing, no more our flag will fly.

The empty classrooms testify to lack of use or care, with castoff books and broken desks, all scattered everywhere.

The ghost of laughter lingers still – in the darkened peeling halls; Of those who rushed to classes – within the school’s stout walls.

No more they’ll sing America, no more we’ll hear a prayer, no more the dream awakens through a teacher’s patient care.

A grove of trees stand tall and strong, providing schoolyard shade.

A plaque inscribed at each tree’s base proclaims a student’s name.

The trees are living tribute to the men who went before, each sacred to the memory of a boy who died in war.

The structure is more than just a school, much more than you can see, this building is the heart and soul of this community!

A monument to learning and our American way of life, but they have cut the heart from it, just like a surgeon’s knife.

One question is not answered – at least it’s not to me, “Is a building just a building? And a tree only a tree?”

Will progress rushing forward erase all memory of when that building was a school, and why they planted trees.

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