Warwick remembers

WARWICK - The unseasonably warm weather, combined, unfortunately, with general disinterest throughout the years, may have kept most of Warwick’s residents away. But temperatures in the high 80s did not keep hundreds of members of veterans’ groups and other organizations from participating in the May 29 annual Memorial Day Parade and then standing at attention under the hot sun during ceremonies at Warwick and St. Stephen’s Cemeteries and Veterans Memorial Park. The day’s events began with the traditional parade down Main Street and on to Warwick Cemetery. Grand Marshall and U.S. Navy Veteran Frank Marth and Captain Torilyn Martin, recently returned from Iraq, led the line of march. Retired Col. James Stewart, the highest-ranking member of the well-known Warwick family of military servicemen, and his brothers, marched with the color guard. At Warwick Cemetery, Supervisor Michael Sweeton, Mayor Michael Newhard, American Legion Post 214 Commander Bob Ritzer, VFW Post 4662 Commander Ted Cody and guest speaker, Assemblywoman Annie Rabbitt, paid tribute to the fallen heroes of all the wars America has fought. The ceremonies began with an invocation by Rev. Duncan Truman, past pastor of the New Milford Methodist Church. Then, following a long tradition, Eagle Scout Evan Ritar read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. The mayor read a touching letter that he had received from a Vietnam veteran, now living in the Mid-West, which praised his platoon leader, an officer and resident of Warwick, who had perished in the conflict. “Let his family know that he was not forgotten,” urged the writer. The ceremonies at Warwick Cemetery were followed by services at St. Stephen’s Cemetery, conducted by the Rev. Michael McLoughlin, pastor of the Church of St. Stephen, the First Martyr. The parade then continued down Forester Avenue to the Firemen’s Monument at Veterans Memorial Park where members of the Warwick Volunteer Fire Department conducted a memorial service and invocation by the department’s chaplain, the Rev. Chris Yount, pastor of United Methodist Church.