Broadalbin's Soldiers' Monument
Dedication Program, 1973

    

Re-enactment -  lifting memento chest from the ground at the foot of the monument.


MEMORIAL CAPSULE FLOODED CEREMONIES MOVED INSIDE

AMSTERDAM EVENING RECORDER
and DAILY DEMOCRAT
1973

BROADALBIN - The rain cancelled the Memorial Day parade in Broadalbin, but an empressive ceremony was held in the grade school with a standing room only audience attending. Prior to the program a memorial chest had been dug from the bottom of the monument in the village. It was found to be filled with water and a hole was drilled for draining purposes. The water-soaked contents, which had lain in the metal chest for 50 years, were patted dry with paper towels and spread on a table for examination. Among these was Mrs. Helen Lansing Goodell, who played the piano for the monument dedication 50 years ago.

This year's program began with posting of colors and the invocation by the Rev. Richard Blanc, pastor of the Broadalbin Baptist Church.

The welcome address was given by Farren DeNure, local postmaster and past New York Department vice commander of the American Legion. Introduction of guests was followed by recitations from Alinda Potter, Carol Banach and Scott Smith. A report was given by village historian Lewis Cornell and prayer for continued peace offered by the Rev. Harry B. Erkman, pastor emeritus of Broadalbin Presbyterian Church.

The memorial chest had been exhumed at 7:30a.m. in the rain under the direction of John Sniezyk, past commander, and Robert Lee Walsh Post 337 John Baird, senior vice commander of the Broadalbin VFW Memorial Post 8690.

Mark Palen, candidate-elect of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, read a poem written by LaVerne Jeffords, a 1923 June graduate, 50 years ago, on the occasion of the dedication of the village monument and burial of the memento chest. Graduates of the class of 1973 are assisting with mementos for the new box to be buried in the future.

The benediction was given by the Very Rev. Peter H. Smith, Dean of the Fulton County Deanery and pastor of St. Joseph's Church. Taps was played by Richard Clark and James Wilkinson.

Members of the Legion went to the cemetery for a memorial tribute to the nation's dead with the firing squad. Open house was held at the legion rooms for all who attended. Lunch was served by members of the Robert Lee Walsh Post 337, and its Auxiliary under the direction of Donald Buhrmaster.

  


SOLDIERS’ MONUMENT DEDICATION
Broadalbin, N.Y.
Poem by
LaVerne Jeffers
A 1923 Broadalbin High School Student
Read by
Herman Cooper
During Monument dedication Program
May 10, 1923

Reread by
Mark

This monument is made for those
Who gave their all to make us free.
Who at the call of battle rose
And fought their way to victory.
For those who did with England fight
For the boys who fought in ‘63
For those who fought in France for right
And saved the world from tyranny.

REVOLUTION

Long years ago when England’s hand
Enforced her orders with the sword
At Lexington a little band stood up
And faced the English horde.
They were beaten, but their courage stood
For liberty, loved now as then,
For all that this great land holds good,
Stood for equality of men.

That red coat serpent wound it’s way
To concord where with flag unfurled,
Determined patriots stood that day
And fired the shot heard round the world.
It echoed over our great land
And even now we hear it’s roar
And see the flame of freedom famed
It’s echo heard from shore to shore.

And then there came the stern command
O’er all the land the battle shout.
The call to save their nations land
The call to drive the tyrant out.
When first they heard that battle call
They gave up all they had to give
They left their homes and gave their all
Gave all that Liberty might live.

They fought Great Britain’s greatest power,
Thirteen small states all joined as one
And even in the darkest hour
Did not regret what they had done.
Gave all, but for one hope of gain
They gave up all they had to give
That freedom might forever reign
Gave all to gain the right to live.

Then came of all the darkest hour
That Winter at Valley Forge when men died
And dying thanked the power
That gave the right to die like men.
They had few clothes, no food to eat
And if from camp they dared to go
The English tracked their naked feet
By blood they left upon the snow.

When all seemed lost and dark the earth,
The News of Peace came to their ears
Which told them of a Nation’s birth
Baptised in Liberty and tears.
They laid their all at freedom’s door
Had given their lives, their all and won.
And now til time shall be no more
The world shall know what they have done.

CIVIL WAR

Then after years of peace, there came
The saddest war men ever had
When brothers fought to kill and maim
To rid us of a curse so bad.
Slavery must go the motto ran
Must perish never more to be.
It can’t exist within a land
Where men are all created free.

Then Lincoln sent through all the land
His call for men both far and near.
They enlisted to a man
And counted not their lives too dear.
Each town and city gave their best
Rich man and poor their rank forgot
So after all t’was but a test
Of who were men and who were not.

The first big fight was a Bull Run
Where northern men fought Southern powers,
But the rebels beat them back and won
Won by greater force than ours.
This battle showed men of the North
That they fought men of strength and zeal.
The Southern soldiers had come forth
As foemen worthy of their steel.

The Southern force now started north
That Southern host in one great mass,
But then at Gettysburg came forth
Our men, who said, they shall not pass.
For two whole days they stood before
That Southern army, but the third,
The greatest battle of the war
Was fought with shot and shell and sword.

At three o’clock up the hillside came
General Pickett and his brigade
Pushing into that laden rain
The greatest charge that ‘ere was made.
These brave young rebels, fighting onward,
Now they’re beaten, driven backward,
Now they charge again as one.

Our men stood firm as Gibralter
Stood firm and faced that rain of lead
Stood firm and never once did falter
Never once fell back till dead.
They drove them back and saved the day
But when their work of death was done
Ten thousand in the wheat field lay
Dying beneath the burning sun.

The Northern army then moved south
And fought to end the awful war
They fought in the Cannon’s very mouth
Fought as they never fought before.
Before our army Richmond fell
At Appomattox General Lee
Surrendered the force that fought so well
The war was won, the slaves were free.

Winning we lost the greatest man
Any country will ever know.
Lincoln died by the assassin’s hand
And thus was dealt the greatest blow.
He was only a human man
But few so worked for others’ good.
Lincoln would have joined again
Our land in love and brotherhood.

SPANISH WAR

Then came the awful war with Spain
Men enlisted, took their place
And fought for neither wealth nor gain
But fought to free a bondaged race.
They saved the Cubans from the hand
Of Spain’s oppression, set them free
Thus it was a bondaged land
Was saved from wrong and tyranny.

WORLD WAR I

Then after many years there came
The great World War on land and sea.
We fought for neither power or fame
To save the world from tyranny.
Men placed their lives and liberty
In the scale held by freedom’s hand
Gave all to raise democracy
Above all else throughout the land.

Brave men enlisted, joined the fight,
Left their homes and crossed the sea.
Many thousands died for right
All this to save democracy.
For democracy they laid their all
Upon the alter of human love
And thus caused tyranny to fall
And raised democracy above.

Our soldiers joined the Allied Powers
To halt the Germans, drive them back
They fought to save their land and ours
From rule of tyranny so black.
The greatest fight our soldiers had
Was Chatean Thierry where for hours
They fought the Germans who were glad
To yield at last to stronger powers.

When orders came to join the fight
Our men went over with a cheer
Left their lines to fight for right
Went over the top and had no fear.
They fought their way through No Man’s Land
On through barbed wire they cut their way.
The Germans yielded to their hand
All fell before them on that day.

They drove the Germans on before
Before their onslaught drove the Hun
Drove them back, and thus the war
Was ended, and the work was done.
The Germans asked for terms of Peace
The peace was granted, our men had won
And may our friendship never cease,
For the Allied Powers that fought the Hun.

In Flander’s Field the poppies grow.
Again beneath the Summer sky.
Between the poppies row on row
White crosses mark where heroes lie.
Those brave men died to save the land
They saved it from the tyrant’s hand
They fought and died and dying, won.

Link to:
World War I Honor Roll


The above newspaper article and poem were donated by
Broadalbin Historian, Gordon Cornell.


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Last updated Tuesday, 13-May-2008 13:35:37 PDT