Volunteers working to restore honor to Brownsville’s fallen veterans
BROWNSVILLE — Communities across Fayette County and America have memorials honoring townspeople who served the country in the military during war.
Brownsville was no different. Three honor rolls listing the names of residents who served during World War I and WWII were built in the borough.
The memorials are gone now and no one knew what happened to them until a few people started investigating a couple months ago. Those people are now in the process of forming a volunteer, nonprofit committee to raise money to build a new honor roll.
Two of the old honor rolls, one located at the borough building and one at the old Moose lodge on Water Street, deteriorated and were discarded many years ago. The honor roll at the Moose was removed when the lodge was demolished sometime in the late 1970s, said Jack Lawver, a Brownsville Borough councilman who is assisting the Brownsville Area Military Honor Roll Committee.
No one knows what happened to the third one, which was located on Water Street near the former Fashion Cleaner shop.
On a vacant lot on Market Street, committee members envision three upright stones in a “Y” formation engraved with the names of veterans from Brownsville who were killed or reported missing in action surrounded by bricks engraved in memory of any service member.
“We don’t have an honor roll in town. I think we should,” said committee chairman and Vietnam War veteran Denny Falsetto of Brownsville.
“It’s very important that the memory of these people doesn’t get lost,” Lawver said. “Without them, we wouldn’t enjoy the freedom we have today.”
The idea to build a new honor roll grew after Councilman-elect Bob Kovach asked borough officials if they knew the fate of the old ones.
Kovach, who served in the Air Force from 1971-74, said it is a disgrace that there is no memorial to the borough residents who were members of the armed forces.
“We need to honor these people and never forget the sacrifices they made and the sacrifices their families made,” said Bob Koval, a committee member and commander of American Legion Post 940 in West Brownsville. “It’s something that should never be forgotten.”
The committee has started meeting every second and fourth Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. in the borough building to get organized and plan the new honor roll. They have a bank account set up to accept donations and created bylaws and a constitution. The next step is applying for non-profit designation, Falsetto said.
Donations of labor and excavation have been promised and a local funeral home has agreed to obtain the upright stones at cost, Falsetto said.
He said the committee plans to contact businesses and elected officials for donations.
Money from the sale of memorial bricks will be used to help pay for the stones and the engraving. The bricks can be engraved with remembrances of men or women who served in any branch of the military during war or peace overseas or in the United States.
“The bricks are for anyone who served at anytime,” said Harry Zetty, a committee member.
Benches will be placed around the honor roll so visitors and sit and think about people who served the country in the military.
“So they can stop and think about it a little bit,” Falsetto said.
The committee’s goal is to have the honor roll built next fall and design it to blend in with Snowden Square, which is set to undergo a renovation beginning in the spring.
Committee members said a cost estimate for the honor roll project hasn’t been determined, but they looked at one with a similar design that cost $26,000 to build in 1989.
Falsetto said anyone interested in contributing should contact him at 724-366-2113 or lfalsetto@yahoo.com.
The committee mailing address is P.O. Box 636, Brownsville, Pa, 15417.