On a beautiful Memorial Day morning, over 40 members of Cranford 86 Gold Star Families listen to tributes to their loved ones. Note the uniformed youth groups in the background holding the memorial Gold Star Flags. Look for the Hometown Hero banners lining the pathways in the park. They will be displayed in town year-round.
See also the VFW/Cranford 86 float that was created this year for the parade.
Eight Gold Star Families are Welcomed at Memorial Day Remembrances
by Don Sweeney, Cranford 86 Project
As the founding member of the Cranford 86 project I have watched our group gain momentum for the past three years. Not only did we come into Memorial Day 2019 with more Hometown Hero profiles than we have had in any of the previous years, but we also successfully acquired and renovated a parade float for Cranford VFW Post 335. These things alone were enough to make this year’s Memorial Day remembrance a grand conclusion to the most rewarding year yet for our group. But it was the sharing of the Memorial Day weekend with the families of some of our 86 that truly touched our hearts and validated all the work that we have been doing.
With Cranford 86’s newly expanded research and writing team of five, we were able to introduce eleven heroes to the townspeople of today’s Cranford, five more than we had ever been able to document in past years. Our stories have become longer and more detailed, four or five pages in length, which is double to what they were before. The 2019 Cranford 86 booklet was 56 pages as opposed to just 25 pages in 2018. Our abilities now allow us to conduct more intense research which includes locating and working with the Gold Star Families and friends of our featured heroes. After getting to know the families, we thought we would like to share Cranford’s 97-year-old Memorial Day traditions with our new acquaintances and introduce them to the town that our heroes called home. We weren’t sure if this might be asking a lot of our mostly out of town connections. But, of the twenty-one Hometown Heroes that we had introduced, to our surprise and delight, eight families replied, YES, they would attend.
Cranford 86 writers Don Sweeney and Stu Rosenthal, with the Okell Family, visit the grave of Hometown Hero Alan M. Okell after the Cranford Memorial Day ceremony. Photo taken at Fairview Cemetery, L-R Pam and Alan R.Okell, Don Sweeney, Stu Rosenthal, granddaughters Tracy Edmonds and Wendy Okell
One family, the Okells, flew in from Cocoa Beach, Florida and stayed at the Homewood Suites. Alan R. Okell, the son of Alan M. Okell, was born 6 months after his father’s death. The senior Okell was a WW2 pilot and flight instructor who died in a plane crash in Tampa Bay, Florida. This would be Alan R. Okell’s first trip back to Cranford in 72 years. Alan R. especially appreciated meeting V.F.W. member Art Snyder a pilot himself of the B-26 Widow maker in The Korean War, the same plane Alan M. was piloting on March 13, 1943.
Mike Smith is Joe Minnock’s cousin and childhood friend and still tears up at the mention of Joe. Mike joined us, with his mom, to pay tribute to his buddy. Joe Minnock left Hillside Avenue School as a high school sophomore at age 17 and died in Vietnam, one year later, at age 18 three months after his arrival there. Kurt Petschow, Cranford Board of Education President, presented the family with the high school diploma that Joe never returned to Cranford to earn.
Jeanne Ellis, Roger Norton Jr.’s cousin accepted a framed print of the letter that Roger Norton Sr. wrote to the residents of Cranford after his namesake son’s death. Roger Norton Jr. was killed in a plane crash off Okinawa in WW2 and his officer’s sword, which was gifted to Cranford, was mounted on an oak plaque and patriotically displayed in front of the speakers’ platform at Memorial Park.
Bill Hinkle, a Vietnam combat hero himself and member of Cranford VFW Post 335 is the namesake of his uncle, William Hinkle. Bill and his family proudly listened to the details of his uncle’s WW2 memoirs. Some of which were never known to them before the Cranford 86 researchers told his story.
Jackie McGarry Gearrick, Gene McGarry’s baby sister was in attendance with her daughter Sue Buontempo of the Cranford First Aid Squad. While in flight training in Atlantic City, Gene was known to buzz his ultra-loud WW2 Corsair 4FU fighter over their house at 408 Manor Ave. Eventually the neighbors began to complain, and Cranford police requested him to cease and desist.
John Ashnault joined us to honor his brother Ray, a decorated Vietnam machine gunner. Ray received a Bronze Star with a V for Valor in a firefight where he helped to save his platoon which was under heavy attack. Ray’s uncle, cousin, sister-in-law, niece and two nephews were also present at the ceremony.
The Ashnault family gathered to honor their loved one, Bronze Star with V attachment for valor recipient, Ray Ashnault. L-R cousin Mark, uncle Bill, Ray’s brother, John Ashnault and childhood neighbors Carole Hayeck Brown and Fred Hayeck. William Hinkle’s banner in background.
John Vassallo a ninety-year-old Marine himself was there to honor his brother Nick, a Marine platoon leader. Nick Vassallo was part of multiple amphibious landings throughout WW2. Nick’s brother and sister who originally helped us to tell his story in 2018, have since passed away. John still lives here in Cranford.
Delores Benoit and Mary Roberts, Jimmy Roberts’ nieces were in the front row wearing the USS Canberra commemorative hats that they obtained at family reunions of the WW2 cruiser. This was their second year in our Gold Star Family section.
To properly welcome the large gathering of Gold Star Families, the Cranford 86 project hosted a meet and greet soiree at the Rosenthal family home on the eve of Memorial Day. The families were introduced to Mayor Patrick Giblin and the Cranford 86 members who they had become familiar with during the research of their loved ones. On the morning of the parade, the Gold Star Families were welcomed to the Sullivan home on Central Avenue, adjacent to Memorial Park, before moving to their reserved seats in the park for the ceremony. The families that had never seen our town’s Memorial Day service, complimented us on how respectfully Cranford remembers its fallen. To see the parade and ceremony in its entirety, visit Cranford TV35 On Demand at https://cranfordtv35.viebit.com/ and select the parade link dated May 27, 2019.
After the ceremony ended, many of the families gathered for conversation and refreshments at the VFW’s annual after-parade reception. As they left, one by one, they expressed words of thanks for a beautiful day in Cranford. The Okell family asked that our committee escort them to Fairview Cemetery to visit, for the first time, the grave of their father and grandfather, Alan M. Okell. We were glad to oblige because as we had found during our research, the grave was not easy to locate. We lead them there with a flag in hand. On my previous visit, there was no flag by the headstone as is usually customary for veterans. When we approached the grave, I could see that still no flag had been placed and we corrected that. Alan R. knelt and had a moment alone with his hand on his dad’s headstone. It was a special moment for the family. The little hairs on my arm were again telling me, this was one of those moments that we were privileged to be sharing. The OKells then discovered that there were many other family members interred there of which they were unaware. We stayed with them at Fairview for an hour and took many pictures. The family was very thankful.
As we parted company, we gave instructions to Alan Okell on how to find Alan Okell Place, which was the last item on their list before heading back to Florida. From the pictures they shared with us later, we could tell they had another special moment in Indian Village (Sunny Acres). They invited our entire group to stay at their spare apartment in Cocoa Beach at any time. We were feeling like family. I think the Okells left us feeling that Cranford is a great place to live. We think so too.
To receive a Cranford 86, 2019 Volume II, 56-page booklet or to sponsor an upcoming Cranford 86 hero, go to Cranford86.org or call me, Don Sweeney at (908) 272-0876.
Mike Smith, Joseph Minnock’s cousin and childhood friend and his mom Michaelina receive an honorary diploma from Cranford Board of Education President Kurt Petschow. Joe Minnock left Hillside Avenue School at the end of his sophomore year at the age of 17. He died one year later in Vietnam, three months from the day he arrived there.
Alan R. Okell’s first visit to the street named in his father’s honor in Indian Village (Sunny Acres).
Alan R. Okell kneels at his father’s grave in Westfield. This was his first visit, as he left Cranford for Florida as a toddler 72 years ago.
The Cranford 86 56-page booklet and awareness car magnet are available for a donation. Please help us to fund our continuing mission to tell the stories and see the faces of all 86 Hometown Heroes. Email info@cranford86.org or call Don Sweeney at (908) 272-0876
