(above) The original Garwood War Memorial Honor Rolls listed the names of Garwood residents who served in the military during World War II and Viet Nam wars. The Garwood Historical Committee is seeking to replicate and complete these and is seeking information from the community.
Garwood Historical Committee Seeks Help in Memorial Project
Submitted by Bruce Paterson
The Garwood Historical Committee has decided to research a memorial project, where we will attempt to replicate the Garwood War Memorial Honor Rolls listing the names of the Garwood men and women who served in the military during World War II and Viet Nam wars. Back then, during each of those conflicts, to honor the service men and women, the residents of our Borough erected a large wooden Honor Roll board to stand next to our old Borough Hall facing South Avenue. Many Garwood names were found to be common between those two Honor Rolls, the fathers who served in WW2 and then the sons and daughters who served in Viet Nam. The two pictures enclosed show the Honor Rolls and many names are legible but many are not, and we found many are not included on the Roll since these photos many have been taken during the conflicts where names were later added.
The Committee does not really know what happened to these wooden memorials, since made of wood they could have easily deteriorated beyond saving. Our Historical Committee understands the importance of this major undertaking. This will entail many resources, time and money to replicate these Rolls and update with missing and/or corrected names. It will take some time and much research to complete this task. We are reaching out to the community for their help. Right now, if anyone has additional photos of either of these two Honor Roll boards we request you send them to us. If anyone knows of any missing names or has further information on them or to the disposition of these Rolls, we need to hear that also. We can be contacted at email: garwoodhistory@garwood.org, or through Garwood Borough Hall, 403 South Avenue, Garwood, NJ 07027. Thank you all for your attention to helping us in this endeavor.
