Honoring our fallen heroes in Wantagh-Seaford

Residents of Wantagh and Seaford will honor Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice on Memorial Day. Both communities will host parades and ceremonies on Monday to pay their respects to the war dead.

In Wantagh, the parade will be hosted by American Legion Post 1273. Marchers will gather at 9:30 a.m. in the parking lots of the high school and middle school, and the parade will kick off at 10 a.m. sharp. A memorial ceremony will follow at the American Legion Post, at 3484 Wantagh Ave.

In Seaford, marchers will meet at Verity Plaza, behind the Seaford Cinema, between 9 and 9:30 a.m. for the 10 a.m. start. The parade will head north on Washington Avenue and end at Seaford Middle School. Following the parade, Legionnaire William Harms speak, and there will be a wreath laying and a flag raising.

“We can never forget the prisoners of war or those missing in action,” said Harms, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, has been with the Seaford American Legion for 29 years and will lead the Seaford parade. “It’s a very important time for the members of the community to come together.”

This Memorial Day marks the 100th anniversary of World War I, which began on July 28, 1914, and ended on Nov. 11, 1918. Called “the war to end all wars” and “the great war,” it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, taking 9 million lives. The United States didn’t enter the war until April 6, 1917, and, in a little more than a year, lost 94,000 men in battle and to disease.

In Wantagh, a plaque at Wantagh High School lists the names of local men who died in World War I. In Seaford, there is a World War I memorial at the Long Island Railroad Station.

Susan Santa, reference librarian at the Wantagh Library, provided the Herald Citizen with some information about Wantagh’s involvement in the first World War. The book “Past Wantagh and Present” describes how “the peacefulness of the little village was again shattered by World War 1, 1914-1918.

“Once again,” the account continues, “Wantagh residents enlisted in the armed forces to serve their nation. Pvt. Bergan Raynor Seaman (Co. F302nd Engineers) was killed on Sept. 26, 1918, by machine gun fire while on a volunteer reconnaissance mission in No Man’s Land, Argonne Forrest.”

Wantagh’s other World War I dead, according to the book “Cemeteries of Old Wantagh,” were George Borgwardt, Louis Damm, Harry Hart, Charles Ollry, Hans Stendrup, William Abrams, Louis Klug, Carl Klug, Richard Smith and Lester Wiebel. All are buried at St. John of Jerusalem Cemetery.

There are no names on the World War I Memorial in Seaford. Each year, however, Boy Scout Troop 239 and the Seaford Wellness Council hold a ceremony on Memorial Day to honor those who fought in it. The scouts lay a wreath at the memorial and hold a short program there.

“About 30 to 40 people attend each year,” said Peter Ruffner, the Wellness Council’s vice president. “We help out, but the credit goes to the Boy Scouts. It was Don Paulson” — a former Wantagh scout leader — “who began this program some years ago.”

The service focusing on World War I is held after the official ceremony at Seaford Middle School. All are invited to attend.

Charles Wroblewski, of the Seaford Historical Society, said he hopes an Eagle Scout “might consider researching the names of those from the Great War for the Memorial. It would be very interesting to learn more about the men who gave their lives,” he said.

But not all of the the community’s World War I dead have been lost to history. Seaford’s American Legion Post is named after Edwin Welch Jr. from Brooklyn who died on Nov. 9, 1918, near Remille, France.

“Edwin suspected the Germans would shell the house [where they had taken cover] before long and they left the house one at a time between heavy shellfire,” according to texts provided by Wroblewski. “They went to a foxhole. Edwin was the last to leave. Early the next morning Edwin was found dead on the steps in front of the little stone house. He had been shot in the jugular vein.”