Renovo Celebrates Hometown Heroes
By Christopher Miller
RENOVO – On one of the most beautiful Sunday afternoons in recent weeks, at least a hundred people sat in attendance at Renovo’s 16th Street Park at the ceremony honoring the lives behind 48 active and veteran servicemembers from the greater Renovo area whose banners are flying high over Huron and Erie Avenues.
“This committee has been working for only three months to get our banners back on track,” Committee Member Dave Bower said, welcoming the invited guests in attendance and the committee behind him.
Renovo Borough Representative Vincent Tarantella addressed the crowd, welcoming those to Renovo and thanking them for being part of the community.
Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding was visiting Renovo this morning only expecting to be a spectator, but was asked at the last minute to address the group.
“I am always in awe, not only of the community support for events like this, but in awe of those members of the community tho give it their all day after day to make it the best they can be, and I would like to think that I am an ally to you as we continue to grow and help the Renovo area prosper, and thank you to those who give their time and their efforts to serving this country and the community with dignity,” she said.
State Representative Stephanie Borowicz was also in attendance, honored to be in attendance for the event.
“We are an exceptional nation because of the men and women who have served this nation, and you guys are the ones that know what it means to sacrifice for freedom and very few people have ever felt that weight,” Borowicz said. “I draw my strength from you and your stories, whether it be John Curcio, or another veteran who said stand tall no matter how dark this world looks, so I am honored to honor you and I thank you for your service and willingness to lay down your lives.”
Eric Ditty read the list of banner honorees, referenced at the end of this article.
“The guest speaker we have today is someone who is well-known around town for beautifying it and taking care of things, Vincent Tarantella,” Dave Bower said. “I am a retired and honorably discharged 33-year veteran myself and currently the Supervisor for the Renovo Streets and Parks, thank you for coming out to show your support today,” Tarantella said.
“Everyone cares and everyone honors the individuals who made the individuals who made great sacrifices from their private lives, to their families who have endured long times without seeing their loved ones, and these banners embody selfless service of those people,” Tarantella said. “This year we have 48 banners honoring more than 50 veterans, some banners honoring more than one person, and they have been placed on the most heavily traveled areas of Renovo: Huron and Erie Avenues. Some banners are for those who were killed in action, and some banners are also honoring those people who are still alive and serving today. Our veterans put their money where their mouth is and paid for our freedom with their selfless service. Thank you to the American Legion Post 442, Veterans of Foreign Wars 6178 and Bucktail Detachment Post 856.”
Mary George Rhone, a community member and US Army Veteran, was the next guest speaker speaking of the “nuts and bolts” of the event and banner research process.
“For me, these pictures had to be just perfect,” she said. “Dave had given me a picture from March 11, 1946 and asked me if I could work my magic with it to make it look great on the banner, but there is one lady I am compelled to talk with you about today: a female veteran named Mildred “Betty” Putman.”
Reading Mildred’s obituary, Mary George began, “Mildred died January 31, 1946 at Pearl Harbor as a result of an accident that day. In addition to her parents, she was survived by five brothers and two sisters. SHe graduated in 1941 from Renovo High School and worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad Shops until she enlisted in 1944, but in May she was transferred to Pearl Harbor and was operating a finger-lift vehicle and was crushed to death in an accident after sustaining injuries.”
“Betty is buried in Honolulu, had I known that when I was in Hawaii I would have certainly looked her up,” Rhone said.
“When you do these banners it is a mixed bag: you hope they all come in and that they are all beautiful, but we were able to work with the pictures and learned that we had three duplicate banners and that we were missing two, which were delivered to Renovo yesterday and hung up immediately in town,” she said.
Dave Bower spoke, saying that “families serve with us, we always need to remember that there is always a family standing beside us, and when a person is killed in action there isn’t much more tragic than getting the telegram, or seeing the chaplain come to the door.”
Pastor Dutch Rinker spoke last, offering remarks and then led the benediction.
“When I started to jot down some notes, things just bubbled up and soon enough I was writing down another thing, and another thing…today, I am prior military having served as a military working dog handler and served in the PA State Police, and I feel unworthy to stand here before those of you who have served honorably and selflessly,” he started.
“I feel as though I stand on the shoulders of giants, when I went into the military I had salty veterans training me, and I did the same as a staff sergeant and, and then I had those same veterans teaching me in the state police, but we stand on the shoulders of giants. I am named after a 19 year old private who died on January 31, 1944, my Uncle Dutch, who stormed the beaches at Anzio, Italy, in the meantime my grandfather was on Iwo Jima and watched the flag being raised and spent the rest of his life with shrapnel in his foot, and my other uncle served in the Philippines and was injured. I have my Uncle Dutch’s purple heart and it resonates with me that we, here and now, stand on the shoulders of giants and it is our duty to honor them, respect them, cherish them, and to step up and do what we can do as they have done and continue to do for this community, commonwealth, and for our country. Our service does not end after our military service. On behalf of me and my family, our veterans, and those first responders on the banners in this town, thank you for all you do, continue to do, this world is a better place because of you, and we owe you a great debt of thanks and honor.”
Banner Honorees:
George Crouse – Army, Vietnam
John Tomko – USMC, Beirut
Richard Pickering – Army, Vietnam
Donald Miller – Navy, WWII
Fred Miller – Army, Vietnam
Timothy Miller – Army, Cold War
Curtis Hess – Army, GWOT
Leslie Lucas – Army, Vietnam
Bernard Huseth – Navy, Korea
Eugene Sheehan – USMC & FBI, WWII
Stuart Probst – Navy, Cold War
Irvin Probst – Navy, Vietnam Era
Ensign Ben Probert – Navy, GWOT
William Probert – Navy, Vietnam
Dale Riggle – Army, WWII
Gene Riggle – Army, Korean War Era
Karl Riggle – Army, Korean War Era
Frederick Risley, III – Army, GWOT
James Wolfe – Army Air Force, WWII
John Tarantella, Sr. – USMC, Vietnam Era
John Tarantella, Jr. – USMC, GWOT
Vincent Tarantella – USMC & Army, Iraq
Vincent Tarantella – Army, Iraq
Harry S. Rankin – Army, WWII
William Hirtzko – Navy, WWII
Ardell Barner – Army, WWII
William Morgan – Navy, WWII
Thomas Tarantella – Army, Persian Gulf
Austin Ransdorf – Army, GWOT
Nathaniel Bower – Army, Iraq
Robert Zappa Summerson – Army, Operation Enduring Freedom and Bosnia
Harold Lavanture – USMC, WWII
Ronald Lomax – Navy, Korea
Ronald Lomax, Jr. – Air Force, Cold War
Michael Lomax – Air Force, Cold War
James Ditty – Army, GWOT
Toby Hess – Army, Vietnam
The Greatest Generation – Renovo Area Veterans – Stuart Morgan
Fred Brooks – Army, WWII KIA
Kenneth Barner – Navy, Persian Gulf
Wes Sykes – Army, Vietnam
Blair Paul – Navy Seabees, WWII
Frank DePolis – Army, WWII KIA
Michael Russo – Army, WWII KIA
Thomas Whitman – Army, WWII KIA
Edward Polski – Army, WWII KIA
Philip Knauff – Army, WWII KIA
Mildred Putman – Navy, WWII KIA
Robert Hill (Gene) – Renovo Police Dept., Army and Navy, Cold War
Marianne & Francis Friel – Navy, WWII
