BY: Nathan Baker
auburnpub.com
 |
Nathan Baker / The Citizen Rear Adm. Richard West, son of Port Byron’s the late Dana L. West, delivers the keynote address at Saturday’s dedication ceremony at the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery. Read more: http://auburnpub.com/news/local/article_0601b726-bb1e-11e0-b23a-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1ThxMsucp |
ROMULUS — With explosive applause and a volley of rifle fire, the 15-year dream of a veterans cemetery in Seneca County finally came true Saturday.
Hundreds sat in folding chairs and bleachers as politicians, local community leaders and veterans officially dedicated the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery on the grounds of the former Naval and Air Force base.
“This is one of the most proudest moments for Seneca County,” New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said during his address. “Waterloo is the birthplace of Memorial Day, now the county finally has a resting place.”
Color guards from scores of local veterans groups stood behind the podium, their raised flags billowing in the slight breeze. Along the loop of the loose stone driveway encircling the cemetery’s new flagpoles, dozens of members of the Patriot Riders, a veterans motorcycle club, silently held flags of their own during the ceremony.
State Sen. Michael Nozzolio said it was fitting that the military base, which once trained thousands of recruits to fight on the battleground has now been transformed into “a place of peace.”
“The ground here was consecrated by the men and women who served here to protect the promise of liberty and freedom around the world,” he said.
The senator praised Steve Bull, the late president of the Sampson WWII Navy Veterans, who he said initiated the action to transform the base into a burial ground.
“I remember getting the letter from Steve about 15 years ago asking that we create a cemetery here on the base,” Nozzolio said. “He brought all the Sampson veterans together to make this happen. He would not let the dream die, and I’m sure he’s looking down on us here right now and smiling.”
After breaking ground on the cemetery site in 2008, the opening was delayed several times, first because of state funding cuts and then unusually wet weather condition in the spring kept construction vehicles from entering the site.
Now that it’s officially open, the backlog of veterans awaiting interment at Sampson can finally be laid to rest.
One of the former servicemen soon to be buried is Dana West, a Navy veteran who served in World War II and later became a coach, teacher and principal in the Port Byron School District.
Because of his years of dedication to the district, Dana L. West High School was named in his honor.
West’s son, Rear Adm. Richard West, delivered the keynote address at the cemetery's dedication ceremony.
“It’s good to be back here in the area, I was launched here — that’s the Navy’s term for born,” West said. “When we drove onto the grounds here the whole family was saying that dad would be proud.”
To close his remarks, West borrowed lines from the historic dedication of another veterans cemetery — the Gettysburg Address.
“In a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground,” he said. “The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
Staff writer Nathan Baker can be reached at 282-2238 or nathan.baker@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at CitizenBaker
Hundreds sat in folding chairs and bleachers as politicians, local community leaders and veterans officially dedicated the Sampson Veterans Memorial Cemetery on the grounds of the former Naval and Air Force base.
“This is one of the most proudest moments for Seneca County,” New York State Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said during his address. “Waterloo is the birthplace of Memorial Day, now the county finally has a resting place.”
Color guards from scores of local veterans groups stood behind the podium, their raised flags billowing in the slight breeze. Along the loop of the loose stone driveway encircling the cemetery’s new flagpoles, dozens of members of the Patriot Riders, a veterans motorcycle club, silently held flags of their own during the ceremony.
State Sen. Michael Nozzolio said it was fitting that the military base, which once trained thousands of recruits to fight on the battleground has now been transformed into “a place of peace.”
“The ground here was consecrated by the men and women who served here to protect the promise of liberty and freedom around the world,” he said.
The senator praised Steve Bull, the late president of the Sampson WWII Navy Veterans, who he said initiated the action to transform the base into a burial ground.
“I remember getting the letter from Steve about 15 years ago asking that we create a cemetery here on the base,” Nozzolio said. “He brought all the Sampson veterans together to make this happen. He would not let the dream die, and I’m sure he’s looking down on us here right now and smiling.”
After breaking ground on the cemetery site in 2008, the opening was delayed several times, first because of state funding cuts and then unusually wet weather condition in the spring kept construction vehicles from entering the site.
Now that it’s officially open, the backlog of veterans awaiting interment at Sampson can finally be laid to rest.
One of the former servicemen soon to be buried is Dana West, a Navy veteran who served in World War II and later became a coach, teacher and principal in the Port Byron School District.
Because of his years of dedication to the district, Dana L. West High School was named in his honor.
West’s son, Rear Adm. Richard West, delivered the keynote address at the cemetery's dedication ceremony.
“It’s good to be back here in the area, I was launched here — that’s the Navy’s term for born,” West said. “When we drove onto the grounds here the whole family was saying that dad would be proud.”
To close his remarks, West borrowed lines from the historic dedication of another veterans cemetery — the Gettysburg Address.
“In a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground,” he said. “The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”
Staff writer Nathan Baker can be reached at 282-2238 or nathan.baker@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at CitizenBaker
