Grand Island Town Board honors National Airborne Day

By Alice Gerard

Senior Contributing Writer

In 2004, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution, setting Aug. 16 as National Airborne Day. The town issues a proclamation annually in honor of National Airborne Day, with the most recent proclamation issued at the Aug. 5 Grand Island Town Board meeting.

“One Island resident, Joe John Synakowski, is the reason that we celebrate or proclaim National Airborne Day every year on Grand Island,” explained former Town Supervisor Mary Cooke. Ten years before National Airborne Day was established, Synakowski, who was a veteran of the 82^nd Airborne Division, “wanted to do something to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Charles DeGlopper’s death in France. He wrote a letter to the Town Board. I was brand-new. He probably wrote a letter to the town supervisor, and he asked someone to show up at a meeting of this group that he was chairing that was planning for six months from then, in June of 1994, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Charles DeGlopper’s death.

“Jim Pax was the supervisor then. He gave me the letter, and he said, ‘Here. Take care of it. You’re the new member of the Town Board. I would like you to go to this meeting and report back to the Town Board about whatever happens.’ That’s when I met Joe John Synakowski.

“He had the meeting at River Lea. There were family members of the DeGloppers there and various other people, and I was representing the Town Board. So, Joe’s words to me were ‘Oh, you’re the new member of the Town Board. What do you know about Charles DeGlopper?’ I knew very little. I knew that he was a Medal of Honor recipient and that he was from Grand Island. That was it. I said to Mr. Synakowski because I didn’t even know him that well then, ‘I don’t know much, but I have a feeling I’m going to be learning a whole lot more about Charles DeGlopper.’ Here we are, 30 years later.”

DeGlopper was a member of Company “C” First Battalion, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, when he was killed at La Fiere, France, on June 9, 1944.

The commemoration of DeGlopper’s death that Synakowski was planning occurred on June 11, 1994. An article by the late Ruth Stahl in the Island Dispatch, printed just prior to the June event, described the events of the day, which was then called Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial Day, as beginning at 10 a.m. with private graveside services at Maple Grove Cemetery, the final resting place of DeGlopper. A public ceremony was held at 11 a.m. at DeGlopper Memorial Park, which included the laying of a wreath, a color guard, a eulogy by John D’Amore, and the presentation of the New York State Conspicuous Service Cross.

Following the ceremony, there was a display of World War II memorabilia at Historic Trinity Church and an open house at the DeGlopper Memorial VFW Post.

Stahl wrote, “Mary Cooke of the Town Board followed through as a representative of the town. Linda Tufillaro helped with the exhibit at Historic Trinity, which includes World War II artifacts and equipment, as well as the Medal of Honor and a Browning automatic rifle used by Charles. Tufillaro also helped in organizing the parade from DeGlopper Park to Veterans Park.”

D’Amore was a World War II veteran from Niagara Falls. He died in 2013 in Apopka, Florida. According to his obituary posted online by Dignity Memorial, D’Amore served “in the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division in Europe and North Africa. He was in the invasion of Normandy on ‘D-Day,’ June 6, 1944, his 22nd birthday.”

After returning home, D’Amore had been active in several veterans’ organizations, including the VFW, the American Legion and All Airborne. Many years after the war ended, in 2011, D’Amore received a package from Belgium. According to the obituary, D’Amore was surprised by this package, which “contained his personal possessions, photos, and letters that he had left behind when staying with a Belgian family for a brief time during the war.”

“John D’Amore served with Charles DeGlopper,” Stahl said in her article.

As far as learning about Charles DeGlopper, Cooke said, “Joe John Synakowski, who moved here right about that time in 1994, he used to live in the city. He and his wife retired out here. He’s the one who got things going out here to teach everybody about Charles DeGlopper.

“We have a Medal of Honor recipient. What are we doing to commemorate him? How are we teaching future generations about this? Thirty years later, we have a beautiful memorial. We have a bronze statue. We’re still proclaiming Aug. 16 as National Airborne Day.

“Joe’s the reason there’s a plaque at Maple Grove Cemetery. He makes sure the Airborne flag is flying every year on Aug. 16, that there’s a new one if it’s tattered – and all that good stuff. It’s pretty interesting that he’s 94 and that he’s still rolling with it. He makes sure this happens every year for the Town of Grand Island.”

An historic marker to honor Charles DeGlopper was placed in front of DeGlopper’s final resting place in Maple Grove Cemetery. (Photo by Alice Gerard)

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Meeting minutes

In other news, the Grand Island Town Board requested the Erie County Highway Department do a traffic study of Grand Island Boulevard between Webb and Bedell roads. The focus of the traffic study will be on the speed of the traffic.

The town completed the TE9 form to reduce the speed limit in that area to 35 miles per hour, and that information was forwarded to the New York State Department of Transportation for review, according to Supervisor Peter Marston.

“We want to look at that whole area. We don’t know if it’s appropriate to go that low for that whole area,” Marston said.

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, Paula Sciuk asked for information about the “FOIL request concerning the state’s denial of the speed limit reduction on Staley Road.

“It’s interesting to me that you are feeling that lowering speed limits for the new town center will greatly benefit our community. I believe Staley Road residents feel the same thing for Staley Road. … We would like to see the data that supports the letter of denial.”