by Pamela A. Moore
Every year the Harvey C. Noone Legion Family conducts a Veterans Day Ceremony in the Riga Newman Library Park at the site of a WWI Memorial, which was dedicated in 1920. The Memorial consists of a large stone to which a bronze tablet is affixed. It is the “Honor Roll of the Boys with the Colors from Riga Township,” and inscribed on it are the names of 63 men who fought in WWI.
Five of the 63 died while serving – Leon Burr, Joseph Carr, Gregory Doxtater, George Loveridge, and Harvey C. Noone. American Legion Post # 954, Churchville, is named in honor of Harvey C. Noone, who was killed in France, on September 29, 1918, by a direct hit from a German shell. He was initially buried in France, as were many Americans who died there. In March of 1921, almost a year after the dedication of the WWI Memorial, his body was among the first of Rochester servicemen who died in France allowed by France to be repatriated back to the US for burial. Harvey C. Noone is now buried at Creekside Cemetery in Churchville, next to his mother, Mary E. Noone, who provided the money to build the Legion Post Home in his honor.
This year’s Veterans Day Ceremony took on special significance because the WWI Memorial was rededicated. Legion Commander Gilbert Budd conducted the rededication ceremony. Prayers were offered by Pastor David Branch of the Riga Congregational Church. Members of Cub Scout Pack 156 and Boy Scout Troop 133 were in attendance, along with community leaders, the Harvey C. Noone Legion Family, and members of the community.
Town Historian Ron Belczak assisted in planning the rededication. Auxiliary Members and Poppy Co-Chairs, Mary Martin and Sandy Olsovsky, told those assembled about the history, purpose, and traditions of the American Legion Family, including how the Poppy became a symbol honoring those who have died while serving their country.
They explained that, soon after WWI, Congress chartered the Legion and the Auxiliary as service organizations for veterans and their families to serve fellow veterans, their families, and their communities. Following the address, Legion Member Ken Juergens escorted them to the Memorial to place a wreath decorated with 63 poppies honoring the 63 men from Riga who fought in WWI. Poppies were chosen because in the spring after WWI ended, France’s battlefields, where so many Americans died fighting for freedom and democracy, began blooming with red poppies. People started wearing poppies in honor of those who died in the war. Today, the Legion Family carries on that tradition by distributing poppies as a way to honor and remember those who died serving our country in all wars.
