In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day on May 26, be on the lookout for banners displaying the faces of local veterans that will soon be installed on telephone poles along Main Street in Port Washington.
The Port Washington Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1819, along with local electrical company Home Run Electric, will be installing 86 banners, each featuring the names and faces of local veterans from World War I to the present, on 62 poles along Main Street, from Port Washington Boulevard to the Town Dock.
Among the members of the VFW post leading the initiative is former Manorhaven Trustee and Vietnam War veteran Ken Kraft, who conceived the idea to honor “hometown heroes” after raising over $10,000 for a similar project in Gen Head, where he used to reside.
Along with honoring dozens of Port Washington veterans from the past century, Kraft said the initiative is personal.
“[It’s also] to honor all of my veteran buddies who served our country, grew up, or were living in Port,” Kraft said. “Three of them never came home with me, Bobby Zwerlein, Billy Polchow and Francis Trinchitella.”
After coming up with the idea last summer, the VFW post had to figure out how to make the banner idea a reality.
With the help of Town of North Hempstead Council Member Mariann Dalimonte, the members completed the necessary paperwork and obtained the required permits from PSEG, which owns the telephone poles where the banners would be installed.
“It was a team effort by everybody,” Dalimonte said. “It’s gonna be great.”
Once the VFW post got the go-ahead to start the project, members like Fred Blumlein got to work. Blumleim has been reviewing the dozens of applications the organization has received over the past few months and scanning images to be sent to the banner printing company.
Word about the program spread quickly, Kraft said. The VFW post partnered with the Port Washington Fire Department, American Legion Post 509 and Port Washington Chamber of Commerce to promote the initiative.
Kraft said the community response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I never expected 86 [applications], I probably called too many people!” Kraft said jokingly.
Commander of VFW Post 1819, Robert Freeland, said the months of getting applications sorted and putting together the banners that will soon adorn Main Street have been an effort the post’s members have taken very seriously.
“It was very important for the whole post and everybody involved with the post to really move forward with this,” Freeland said. “And the fact that everybody got on board, and the fact that we had people who were willing to step up and do a lot of extra work was key to the success of this program.”
Freeland said the community response has been so overwhelming that the post continues to receive requests and applications to put up banners next year. While the post received a one-year permit from PSEG, its members and Dalimonte said they will reapply next year to include even more veterans.
In the coming weeks, Home Run Electric will install 82 banners along the north side of Main Street. The banners will remain in place through Veterans Day.
“What a wonderful way to thank our veterans, many of whom made sacrifices for the country they love,” Kraft said. “All gave some, and some gave all.”
To learn more about the “Hometown Heroes” program, visit the VFW Post 1819’s website, portwashingtonvfw.org.
