Southwick Veterans War Memorial as seen in November 2016 (WNG File Photo)
SOUTHWICK – Earlier this week, the Select Board approved the first reading of a revised war memorial policy in town. American Legion Post 338 and VFW Post 872 collaborated together to create the policy in order to give the town their first-ever written policy that contains guidelines, requirements, and procedures for the inclusion of names on the memorial.
The Southwick Veterans Memorial policy started in 1947 when it began honoring veterans who served in the American Revolution, War of 1812, The American Civil War, The Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. In the early 1960’s, the Korean conflict was added to the memorial, followed by the Vietnam Conflict in the early 1980’s. The third and latest addition to the memorial came in 2016 when the Persian Gulf War and Global War on Terrorism theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan were included in the memorial.
The revised policy has certain criteria for veterans to have their name on the Southwick War Memorial and is as follows:
1. Be a resident of the Town of Southwick at the time of their initial entry into the Armed Forces of the United States and have deployed to a recognized combat theater or be a resident of the Town of Southwick at the time of their deployment to a recognized combat theater as a member of the Armed Forces of the United States.
2. Provide documentation to the town establishing the Veteran’s residency, service, nature of discharge, and deployment details.
3. Less than Honorable and Dishonorable discharges will not be considered for inclusion on the Southwick War Memorial.
Troy Henke, the Chairman of VFW Post 872, prepared and worked on this revised policy along with Ryan Dietert (VFW), and Richard Marcouiller (American Legion) among others.
“It’s really going to standardize it but it’s also going to streamline it, it’s a great legacy and contribution,” said Henke. “We’re very, very happy to collaborate on this.”
Besides the basic criteria of the revised policy, there are also requirements in order for a veteran to be on the post-resident service panel. This panel has been created for veterans who don’t meet the criteria of the above, but still have called Southwick their home for a remarkable amount of time. The regulations for the post-service resident panel are as follows:
1. Veterans to be included must have a connection to the Town of Southwick based upon actual domiciled residency in the town for a period not less than 40 years or established domiciled residency in the town within 1-5 years following discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States and lived in the town for the remainder of their lives and
2. Served as a member of the United States Armed Forces deployed in a recognized combat theater and
3. Provide documentation to the town establishing the Veteran’s residency, service, nature of discharge, and deployment details, and
4. Verifiably determine that the Veteran is not included on any other municipal service or war memorial in the municipality listed on their service documentation.
5. Any resident who was a Veteran of the town at the time of entry into the Armed Forces of the United States and died while on active duty will be eligible for inclusion on the post-service resident panel if otherwise unable to be listed under any other included theaters.
6. Less than honorable and dishonorable discharges will not be considered for inclusion on any post-service resident panel.
The second reading of the new Southwick War Memorial policy will take place at the Select Board meeting next week.
