Veterans Park paver sales continue

PUTNAM — The Veterans Park is stunning --- but it's not finished yet.
After the last three monuments were installed late last year, Veterans Advisory Committee (VAC) chair and leader of the Veterans Park project Rob Challinor said commemorative pavers  are still for sale.
The last addition of commemorative pavers was done last November by the masonry students from H.H. Ellis Tech. The total number of pavers in the Court of Honor is almost 2,300.
There are more veterans to honor with pavers and still to come are the bronze plates listing about 1400 names for the WWII monuments (there are two monuments). The style will match the bronze plates on the WWI monument. Cast bronze is a complicated, expensive process that involves creating molds and castings. The cost is about $60,000.
With the exception of about $11,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funding from the town for the irrigation system, the massive amount of work done at the park has come from donations (both monetary and in-kind), paver purchases, grants and more.  Challinor said, “The entire community created this,” Challinor said. 
The commemorative veteran pavers are still for sale and the deadline to order is Feb. 1. Pavers will continue to be sold each year from Nov. 11 through Feb. 1.
The price for an 8” x 4” gray concrete brick with black engraving is $100 each in cash or check made payable to the Putnam Veterans Advisory Committee (VAC).
Two layout choices are available, with three lines available on each brick: 1st Layout with alpha and numeric characters only. 20 TOTAL spaces available per line and blank spaces and punctuation are counted as spaces.
2nd Layout with alpha and numeric characters AND a military logo. 15 TOTAL spaces available per line and blank spaces and punctuation are counted as spaces.
Not sure what to put on your brick? Enjoy a quick walk through the park, on the corner of Church and Bridge streets for inspiration and ideas. Congregation B’nai Shalom has been a generous neighbor throughout this project and offers their parking lot for visitors to use when they do not have their own service or activity going on.
With an enormous amount of service from the area, there are more veterans to be honored in the park. The Putnam VAC wants to include them all.
With the cooperation of Mother Nature, volunteers, and Ellis Tech masonry students, these pavers will be added to the park by late spring.
Find downloadable and printable forms at the Town website on the VAC webpage: https://www.putnamct.us/government/commissions/veterans-advisory-committee
Orders and payment can be mailed or returned to the VAC c/o Putnam Veteran Services Office, 200 School St, 2nd Floor, Putnam CT 06260.

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On to New Englands!
Putnam’s Bryce Espinosa won the 2025 Elks Hoop Shoot State Championship Jan. 18 in Manchester and is now headed to the New England championships. Espinosa made 24 out of 25 free throws to capture his second state championship (2023 & 2025).  Espinosa also was awarded the Connecticut State Elks Association “Terry Owens Award” for the Best Male Shooter in the State. Espinosa moves on to the New England Championships in Portland, Maine, on March 8. The winner in Maine moves on to the National Championships in Chicago on April 26. Espinosa won the district title two weeks ago —also going 24 for 25 from the free throw line.

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Hometown Heroes of WWII
McGarry: Bronze Star for recon patrol
By Michael Rocchetti
Terence McGarry (1909-1986) skillfully and stealthily led a reconnaissance patrol into enemy lines to provide timely intelligence reports and invaluable river crossing information enabling his entire regiment to successfully advance in pursuit of the enemy and attack.
He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal by his Division Commander Major General Horace McBride, for meritorious achievement against the enemy. According to the citation: “Lieutenant McGarry led a patrol early last December and by his skill and enterprise was successful in obtaining valuable information as to fords and bridges on a river then forming a barrier to the advance. The data so reported was the basis of an attack that permitted the regiment, to which McGarry was assigned, to successfully cross the river and attain the designated objective. His untiring devotion to duty and consummate skill is commensurate with the finest traditions of the Armed Forces of the Unites States.”
Lt McGarry entered federal service with the U.S. Army in February 1941. He was assigned to Company F, 318th Infantry Regiment, 80th Infantry Division. After the war, he was promoted to Captain, and became the commanding officer of a local Putnam unit - D Company, 169th Infantry, CT National Guard.
He was born in Putnam on June 10, 1909, the son of John and Sarah McGarry. He was married to Blanche (Lacasse) McGarry, and they had three children. He was a member of the Putnam Elks Lodge, and the Cargill Council of the Knights of Columbus. He died April 5, 1986 and is buried at St Mary’s Cemetery in Putnam.
Hometown Heroes is a series published in the Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger with this mission: We owe it to our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines to make sure that they are never forgotten, and that the memory of their service and sacrifice will forever live on in the hearts and minds of the grateful people of Putnam.

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