'It's very emotional': Vietnam War monument in Hauppauge refurbished

Hauppauge High School sent nearly 300 young men and women into the armed forces during the Vietnam War, a number some argue was more than the hamlet's fair share.

Those names are embossed on the newly restored Hauppauge Honor Roll unveiled in Blydenburgh County Park Tuesday to commemorate veterans from the high school who served in that era.

Residents thought the figure was so high for a relatively small town that when the memorial was originally installed in 1966, they "felt they were penalized for the many men they had to send a war," said Kevin O’Hare, 80, of Kings Park.

O’Hare, an Army veteran who said he organized United Service Organizations shows starring celebrities like Bob Hope and Charlton Heston during the Vietnam War, helped spearhead the monument’s earlier revitalization in 2001, the first time it was refurbished, and was consulted for the most recent restoration.

It was especially important to do in honor of the soldiers who never made it back to Hauppauge, he said.

Among Hauppauge’s lost are Gregory Wakulich, 18, whose parents were told by telegram only that he was killed by a hostile device in February 1970, according to Newsday archives. There was Paul Maher, a 20-year-old Marine who survived enemy fire in December 1965 before he was killed by fragments of an explosive in March 1966. Lawrence V. McMahon, 33, a Marine who had served 12 years in the armed forces without seeing combat before he was sent to Vietnam in June 1966 and killed three months later. And Robert Santoro, 22, who was the 274th from Long Island to die in the war when he was killed on patrol in August 1968.

Another listed veteran, Ronald Pisani, 19, died at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, in October 1967, according to a local news report.

Originally installed at the corner of Old Willets Path and Veterans Memorial Highway, the aging monument was refurbished and moved to Bill Richards Park in 2001, a green space that's been acquired since by Suffolk County from the Town of Smithtown. An Eagle Scout, Nick Sanders, revitalized it in 2016. The frames have been replaced and moved to adjacent Blydenburgh County Park, which Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine called its "final home."

Romaine said the memorial serves as a type of apology to soldiers who faced hostility upon their return when the war became increasingly unpopular back home.

"We’re here to say we want to make up for that," Romaine said.

The county parks department provided the labor and the materials were donated, said Suffolk County spokesman Brian Monahan. The approximate project cost was between $10,000 and $20,000, he said.

Frank D’Aversa, a Navy lieutenant veteran who has lived in Hauppauge since 1979, scanned the list Tuesday morning but did not see any names he recognized. Still, the ceremony moved D’Aversa, 81, who rode on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger during the war and lights a candle once a year at the Church of St. Patrick in Smithtown to honor all fallen flight crews.

"A lot of them on that wall didn’t have to serve and they did," he said. "It’s very emotional. We’re all brothers and sisters."

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.