Sayville adds seven to veterans memorial

The rain stayed away; the tears didn't.

Toting umbrellas, several hundred Sayville residents, veterans, their families and friends turned out for yesterday's solemn ceremony adding the names of seven men killed in the Korean and Vietnam wars to the hamlet's Sparrow Park war memorial.

The clouds held back for the tribute to officially honor Sgt. Robert Ritter, Seaman James McGrath, 1st Lt. Lewis Gaiser, Airman George Miller, Warrant Officer Willard Spencer Lund, Capt. John Gibbons and Capt. Merrill Masin. Ritter fought and died in Korea; the six others died in action in Vietnam.

Until last week, only Sayville residents killed in World War I and World War II -- 25 men and women -- were honored at the site.

Members of the Sayville High School band played "Taps" during the dedication for two new plaques featuring the men's names. Six of the seven attended the school.

"We knew each other. When I heard about this, I said to myself, 'I've got to make that,' " said Carol Pape, a Sayville resident who graduated from Sayville High in 1964, the same year as four of the men. "They were great guys. It was very moving."

Retired Army Maj. William Smith, who traveled with his wife, Jane, from Gettysburg, Pa., to attend, choked up as a soldier read biographical information about Lund, his close friend with whom Smith flew helicopter missions in Vietnam.

"It was swell," Smith said of the ceremony. "They did a real nice job."

Lund, killed in action in 1969, was 22. His brother John Lund, of Sayville, was moved to tears and said later he and his family were delighted by the tribute.

Theresa Perry, 81, of Bohemia, who at 19 married Robert Ritter, called the ceremony "beautiful," saying "it was a tribute to all the servicemen."

Ritter's son, Bill Perry, laid a wreath at the memorial. "It's a great tribute to my father and the six Vietnam veterans," he said. "Now it's written in stone: They fought and died for our country."

For Chris Bodkin, a lifelong Sayville resident and former Islip Town councilman who initiated the project, there was satisfaction. Bodkin, 64, whose two elder brothers flew helicopters in Vietnam, was close friends with three of the men and spent a year researching and preparing the program.

"It came out nice," he said as the sun shone. "The emotion and patriotism everyone feels here can't be held back by a few raindrops."