WWII Memorial Missing Names

 The World War II Veterans Memorial in Owego's Courthouse Square is inadvertently missing names of servicemen from Tioga County who made the supreme sacrifice from December 7, 1941, through December 31, 1946. 

 That's why the Owego Veterans Memorial Committee had a special "Flags In" ceremony on Memorial Day 2003. Nine Tioga County veterans whose names were not engraved on the memorial were especially remembered. Since then, additional names have been reported. And there may be more. 

 Memorial Day Master of Ceremonies Jim Raftis respectfully asks the help of Tioga County residents to identify or verify any names not on the WWII Memorial. What's more, you can report information on a deceased war veteran for a remembrance profile or biography "Honored Name on the Tioga County World War II Memorial."  Contact Jim at 687-4229 or Jraftis2@stny.rr.com. 

 For whatever reasons over the years, names of our loved ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country were not reported to the Tioga County Veterans Service Agency. Verified names from this search will be added to the WWII Memorial and VA Office files. 

 Want to help? Get involved now. Report your results to Jim before April 30. Here are some ideas: 

•  Review 25 names not on the WWII Memorial from the War Department Honor List published in the weekly Owego Gazette on June 27, 1946:  From Barton:  Albert D. Crandall; Lockwood: Myron C. Fitzmaurice; Lounsberry: Richard Warner;  Owego: Harold R. Crammer Jr., Edmund L. Rundell, Adam C. Schwindle, George C. Smith, Carl D. Smith, John A. Stiles; Richford: Rockwell Beattie, William H. Echorst, Milton D. Rundell; Spencer: Edward R. Thornton;  Speedsville: Albert A. Hyde;  Waverly: Robert J. Jannett, Paul N. Phillips, Warren A. Schutt, John T. Sinter, John R. Vlyman Jr.; No Address  Reported: Willard D. Dinniny, William Harding, John F. Heagerty, James A. Rogers, Robert M. Turner, Harry A. Warner 

•  Review 11 names not on the WWII Memorial supplied by the Newark Valley and Candor High School yearbooks and concerned attendees at last year's services:   Candor: Earl Diller Jr., Harold Jordan, Ralph Piatt, Lloyd J. Quick;  Newark Valley: Stuart R. Cook, Edward Whipple; Owego: Ralph Catlin, John Reybold, Richard Romine; Address Unknown: Keith Tucker and William Ballard. 

•  Review 63 names already on the WWII Memorial:  Address Not Reported: James L. Alexander, Harold J. Briggs, Harold F. Carrington, Glenn L. Chrysler, Russell E. Cowan, David C. Dalton, Ralph Finn Jr., Edwin L. Fisk, Peter Jenks, Lawrence Kenyon, James LaDue, Robert Lawrence, Charles E. Lawson, Marion Lisk, Robert H. Lunn,  Roland A. Marean Leonard Meddaugh, Richard C. Millage, Thomas L. Millard, Albert F. Miner, Gerald L. Mosier, Adolph V.  Nagel, Frederick E. Porter, Robert G. Relyea, William A. Rush, Hiram S. Saddlemire, Thomas F. Smith, Harold L. Stevens, Walter Vanderpool, Donald A. Warner, Earl F. Winslow; Apalachin: Gerald J. Maloney; Barton: Donald L. Short; Berkshire: James Cooper, William J. Smith; Candor: Peter Joseph Bish, Richard Hoyt, Howard I. Jordan;  Newark Valley: Clyde H. Armstrong, Robert W. Avery; Nichols: Richard P. Edsall, John M. Peppard; Owego: Perry S. Bogart, Roland B. Detrick, Francis L. McTamney, Chauncey S. Moreland,  Mario A. Panetti,  Adam C. Schwandel, Delmar Sibley, Glenn A. Warner; Richford: Ernest L. Echorst, Harold S. Forshee, Merle E. Watkins; Smithboro: Harold L. Dolan; Spencer: Edwin H. Gould;  Van Etten: Richard D. Lucas; Waverly: Miles I. Brown, James F. Crockett, Robert W. Garrison, Paul F. Lattimer, Durwood L. Mills,  William J. Osborn, Elmer R. Taylor,

•   Review names of veterans buried overseas in American Battle Monuments Commission Cemeteries in Europe & the Pacific: Hamm, Luxembourg: Hugh R. Gardner Jr. of Apalachin and Robert C. Baker of Candor; Margraten, Netherlands: Richard A. Hoyt of Candor, Glenn A. Warner of Owego;  Earl E. Whalen (address unknown);  Ardennes, Neupre, Belgium: Robert R. Zimmer of Spencer; Cambridge, England: John E. Wright of Nichols;  Punchbowl, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii: Francis Leo McTamney ando, Donald Lester Short, both of Owego.

•  Volunteer to read microfilm records from the war years for casualty write-ups in the Owego Gazette and Owego Times at the Tioga County Historical Society, 110 Front Street, Owego. 

•  If a veteran, research records for names at your VFW or American Legion Post in Owego, Nichols, Waverly, Candor, and Van Etten. 

•  Look at  scrapbooks & school yearbooks for names and write-ups. 

•  Tioga County and town historians can review their records. 

•  Volunteer to walk through one of the 82 cemeteries in Tioga County. Look for a veteran's gravestone. Read the inscription. Report if the veteran was killed or died of wartime wounds, or is buried or missing at sea. 

  As patriotic Americans from Tioga County, we do this now to remember on Memorial Day 2004.

  For more information, contact Jim Raftis at 687-4229.