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Grand Island Town Board: Airborne Day on Island proclaimed

•Taken from the Aug. 7 Island Wide Dispatch

Fri, Aug 7th 2015 02:15 pm

At its meeting Monday in Town Hall, the Grand Island Town Board noted the 75th anniversary of the first official Army parachute jump by issuing a townwide proclamation.

The first official Army parachute jump took place Aug. 16, 1940. The board resolved Monday to proclaim Aug. 16 as National Airborne Day in the town "and encourages its citizens to observe and commemorate this historic event."

In making the proclamation, the board noted Grand Island is the home and final resting place of Pfc. Charles N. DeGlopper, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and member of the 82nd Airborne Division, who died in 1944 during the invasion of Normandy to liberate Europe; and Lt. Col. Terrance K. Crowe, an Airborne trooper who was killed in action in Iraq in 2005.

The board further noted the XVIII Airborne Corps renamed its Air Assault School for DeGlopper in January.

Pictured, from left, Councilman Gary Roesch and Town Supervisor Mary Cooke present proclamations to George Crowe and Mary Ann Crowe, parents of Terrence Crowe, Airborne veteran Joe Synakowski of Grand Island, and Ray DeGlopper, nephew of Charles DeGlopper. At right is Councilman Chris Aronica. (Photo by Larry Austin)

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