Stories of vets, first responders loom behind Hometown Heroes

    Al Blackmer’s banner hangs unpretentiously from a utility pole along Main Street in Morristown, one of 69 Hometown Heroes memorials erected in the village, Brier Hill and Edwardsville ahead of Independence Day.

The banner’s all-caps message is simple:

ALBERT BLACKMER
WWI ARMY
1916-1918

    But behind the banner is the untold story of Blackmer’s service to this nation.

   “He joined the Army when he was 16,” recalled his daughter Pat Blackmer Woodcock. “He lied about his age when he signed up.”

   Soon, Blackmer, not old enough to vote, completed basic training, sailed in a troop transport to Europe, and found himself on a battlefield in the French countryside.

  His duty exposed him to the hissing bullets, shelling and mustard gas canisters that Germans lobbed at Allied trenches.

   “Did you ever see the movie “1917?” Woodcock asked. “That was my father’s job. He was a runner.”

   A runner’s dangerous role pre-dated radio communication. Runners carried messages, battle plans, perhaps reconnaissance between allied positions, from trench to trench or through the woods and meadows where they were exposed to attack or capture.

   “He told me how he was wounded – I can’t remember where – but two French teen-age boys each grabbed a wrist and led him to safety.”

   Blackmer’s silent story doesn’t stand alone. There are tales from each branch of the service, from theatres around the globe, plus first responders, deceased and living. Organizer Clara Jane Scott, working with town superviser Frank Putman, said families – familiar names such as Paquette, Barse, Bogardus, Stout, Hunter and Spilman — paid $100 each for the production and erection of the banners.

   It’s a memorial she hopes to continue next year for families that missed the deadline or have decided to honor a loved one.

   She planned to share the profits from the campaign with the Morristown and Brier Hill volunteer fire departments, and to support book houses being erected around the town.

  Each banner holds a backstory. Here are a few:

RONALD, RAYMOND WRIGHT

   Judy Wright recalled how her late husband, Ron, joined the Navy as a high school senior in 1956, then went active upon his graduation. His first post was the naval station in Newport, R.I.

   “I remember him telling me that he hitchhiked back and forth when he came home for visits,’’ Wright recalled. “He

served aboard the USS Hyman (DE-732) destroyer and sailed many seas including the Mediterranean, visited France and called at other ports.’’

   Wright parlayed his knowledge of marine engines from his father Ray’s business boat maintenance business into a job as mechanic aboard ship. He was discharged from active duty in 1959, joined the reserves, and returned to Morristown. He and his father purchased the stone building above the river at the mouth of Morristown Bay and became partners in Wright’s Sporting Goods & Marine, Inc.   He married Judy (Warren) in 1961.

   Her son, Randy, and his wife Louise operate the business today. They purchased a banner for grandfather Ray, an active member of the fire department from the 1940s through 1965.

  Ray opened his business selling Penn Yan boats and Evinrude motors.

  “He only closed his marine business one day in the entire summer,’’ Judy Wright recalled, “which is the day he devoted to the Fire Department selling tickets on a boat and motor raffle they sponsored.’’

   Wright, described by Judy as “well-respected in the local community,’’ served as fire chief for 11 years.

 JACK TAYLOR

  Judy Barley Taylor, whose father Irv ran an auto garage on the north end of Main Street, grew up across the street from Wright’s Marina and still lives around the corner.

  She purchased a banner for her husband, John P. Taylor, originally from St. Louis. He used his GI Bill benefits to earn his dietetics degree from the University of Missouri, worked in Walden Pond, Mass., and Washington, D.C., then moved to Canton in 1964 to run dining services at St. Lawrence University.

    “I know that seeing his banner will be emotional for Jack and me,’’ Judy said. “We are incredibly blessed that Jack is so active at age 90.’’

    Taylor served from spring 1954 to autumn 1955 along the DMZ (demilitarized zone) in Korea. His barracks were not huts of wood or metal, but mere tents. After 16 months of chow lines, latrines, no running water or showers and extreme cold, he sailed home on his birthday.

  “Jack remembers the bitter cold of Korea and has been thankful his whole life that he never had to shoot anyone in Korea,’’ she said.

    The Taylors moved back to Morristown in 1996 to take care of her parents, Irv and Harriet.

RICHARD WHITE

  The most tragic story belongs to Dick White. His mother, Winnie, was the affable, beloved school secretary and his father, Harold, was a school custodian and bus driver.

  Their 22-year-old U.S. Navy corpsman was home on a 30-day leave in August 1963 when he scrambled with his father to answer a fire call at a Bromaghin Road farm.

  While fighting the fire, a bottle fuel tank exploded. White was thrown 35 feet and suffered severe burns. He died the next morning at A. Barton Hepburn Hospital.

MICHAEL MOORE

   Cathy Moore Bell’s father, Michael, is memorialized along Main Street. Her mother, Shirley, longtime MCS guidance secretary, delivered the first of eight children, Michael Moore Jr., when the couple was stationed in California.

   “My uncle tells us that Dad became an Army Master Sergeant within a year and a half,’’ Bell said, “which I was told is impressive.’’

  “I feel so much pride and love when I drive by and see his banner. I also see so many other men who have passed that I have known and remember with great fondness.’’

         Morristown native Jim Holleran is a retired teacher and sports editor from Rochester. Reach him at jimholleran29@gmail.com or view past columns under “Reflections of River Rat’’ at https://hollerangetsitwrite.com/blog/

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