From the Leader-Observer, May 22nd 2013:

A beautiful and important tradition is making its yearly appearance at the corner of 91st Street and 89th Avenue at the home of Woodhaven’s American Legion.  In 1919, right after the end of World War One, Congress chartered the American Legion, a national organization for veterans. Woodhaven’s Post No. 118 was one of the very first posts to be chartered in the country.

For many decades, for as long as most of us can remember, our American Legion post has put together a touching and beautiful tribute to their members who have passed on in the form of a Garden of Remembrance. In the front and side yard of the Legion Hall, hundreds of markers are erected, each representing a member of the post who served; each marker representing someone’s father, or brother, sister or mother. For decades, the legionnaires of Post 118 would tend to the Garden, cut the grass and haul out racks of markers that got heavier and heavier each year as new Crosses and Stars of David were added. This longstanding Woodhaven tradition continued until 2007, when the legionnaires said that it was getting too difficult to continue and would soon be coming to an end.  In fact, it looked like there would be no Garden of Remembrance the following year until the Cadets of Franklin K. Lane’s ROTC program stepped forward to lend a hand.

And they have carried the weight ever since, right up through last weekend when, under the supervision of Sgt. Major David Valentin, the cadets drove stakes into the ground and tightened ropes to be used as guides to place the markers in straight lines.  It is hard work that they perform beautifully.

Each Cross or Star of David gets adorned with a red poppy and an American Flag. The red poppy was featured in the famous poem "In Flanders Field," a description of the bright red flowers that bloomed across many of the violent, bloody battlefields of World War One.  The poem was written by Lt. Col. John McCrae, who witnessed these battles and did not live to see the poem published, but the red poppy he so beautifully described has endured as a symbol of remembrance.

I have had the privilege and honor to get to know several of the veterans of Post 118, two gentlemen in particular, and this will be the first year that their names have been placed in the Garden.  Our good friend Joseph Virgona, who passed away last fall, and Roger Hennin, a Director of the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association who passed on just last week will be added to the garden. These were two good men of faith, veterans, members of the Knights of Columbus, greatly involved in their church St. Thomas the Apostle, and very good friends with each other. It seems entirely fitting that they enter the Garden of Remembrance together.

The Legion’s Garden of Remembrance Ceremony will take place on Monday, May 27, at 10:30 a.m. Color and Honor Guards will be provided by the cadets of Franklin K. Lane High School Air Force Junior ROTC.  After the ceremony, everyone is invited inside to the Post lounge for food and drinks.  If you have not seen the Garden of Remembrance or the beautiful Memorial Day Ceremony held by American Legion Post 118, you owe it to yourself to attend. Strike that. You owe it to each man and woman represented by the markers in that garden to attend, to thank all of them for their service and to remember.

Scenes From The Ceremony

Here is some video and some pictures from the 2013 Memorial Day Ceremony at Post 118:

From The Leader Observer, May 29, 2013:

We have attended the Memorial Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 118 the past few years and taken many photos of all of the markers. It’s a tremendous sight, row after row, column upon column of neatly placed markers, each with the name of a person who has served; who is no longer with us.

In most cases, however, the names are those of people who you never met, people you did not know. While it is a touching sight, we never felt that personal impact that so many others have felt.

So we weren't prepared for the feeling you get when you see the names of people you knew very well, people you cared for. We experienced that this weekend when we saw two of the new crosses added to the Garden of Remembrance for two beloved Woodhaven figures: Joe Virgona and Roger Hennin.

Both were good men, longtime residents of Woodhaven, men of good faith. They were both family men with lovely wives; Joe met his Sue overseas at the end of World War II and Roger met his Josephine at a beach party in the Rockaways. They both raised their families here in Woodhaven, good children who have grown into good adults.

Both men were deeply involved with their church, St. Thomas the Apostle. Roger, who had considered life in the priesthood, became a Eucharistic Minister and together, with Josephine, they would bring Communion to housebound residents of the community, as well as the sick and elderly at Jamaica Hospital.

Joe was a historian who was very involved in developing the history of St. Thomas on their 100th Anniversary and led the way for the restoration of a plaque honoring 32 young men who gave their lives in World War II.

Both men were also very involved in making our community a better place through their many years of work with the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association. Time and time again, I speak to people who say that they “want to get involved.” Sadly, and more often than not, we never hear from these people again until the next time they have a problem.

With Roger and Joe, action accompanied their talk. They didn’t want to get involved – they got involved. And Woodhaven is a much better place because of their involvement. It is fitting that these two good men entered the American Legion Post 118's Garden of Remembrance together and had their markers placed side-by-side.

I will miss Roger’s guidance and will miss the perspective he brought to the issues we face today. When speaking to those who wish to jam a railroad through our community we likened it to how the city tore this community apart when they widened Woodhaven Boulevard. When they countered by saying that was ancient history, we were able to point to Roger as someone who watched his own house razed.

I will miss Joe’s experience in dealing with people and I appreciated his advice and his counsel. I followed his advice a number of times, and everything always seemed to work out for the best. But most of all I will miss the way he made people smile. He would walk into a room and make people laugh with a small joke or a song. He was an entertainer.

We will miss them both at our meetings. There were times over the past few years when you could see it pained them to make the walk from their homes to our town hall meetings at the Ambulance Corps. But there they were, month after month. While others would say that they couldn’t make the meeting because they were tired or not feeling well, Joe and Roger came out because they didn’t just talk about getting involved. They were involved. They loved their community and the feeling was mutual.

And so, while standing at the gates of the American Legion, I felt that by knowing Roger and Joe, I knew the men and women those markers honored just a little bit better – for they were all cut from the same cloth. These are the people that when there was a job to be done, they did it, they didn’t just talk about it.

Thank you all for your service, and God bless. You will be remembered and honored, always.

If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.  

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Photos by Joey Wendell