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Reborn
DAR and town officials helped rededicate a marker --- and a neighborhood. More photos on page 4. Expanded photo array on Wed. night on our FB page: Putnam Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. Linda Lemmon photo.


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Dedication
Near right: DAR and town officials speak at the rededication of the DAR marker in Washington Park. One of three new Autumn Blaze maples is at left. Lee Konicki talks with DAR officials at the marker. Linda Lemmon photos.


History, pride honored
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The sounds of modern-day traffic on Rt. 44 faded into the background as Washington Park stepped back into time.
Town officials and members of the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapters rededicated the park’s marker with its new “George Washington” maples.
In her invocation, chapter chaplain Carol Ryler said: “Nothing is really ended until it is forgotten. Whatever is kept in memory still endures. Therefore, we the members of the Deborah Avery Putnam Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution rededicate this marker in grateful recognition of the significance of this site.”
Lee Konicki, chair of the Economic Development and Redevelopment Commission, noted that not only was the 1932 marker rededicated but the small Washington Park neighborhood had also rededicated itself and is now a vastly improved, proud neighborhood. The ceremony is a tribute to both the long proud history of the park and of the neighborhood. “We have preserved a part of our natural heritage,” he said.
Konicki said Ronald P. Coderre, a commission member, mentioned the DAR marker a couple years ago. When Konicki became chair, the idea “kinda snowballed.” He thought as the gateway to downtown Putnam, the neighborhood as a whole had improved and taken pride.
He contacted the DAR chapter in late spring — sending along a 1932 news clipping of the original marker event — with the idea of rededicating the park and planting new “George Washington” trees. The tree dedicated to Washington in 1932 had died and the maple that followed had also “succumbed,” according to Melody Guillemette, vice regent for the Deborah Avery Putnam Chapter, NSDAR in Plainfield.
The same type of markers with trees were planted in Davis Park in Danielson by the Sarah Williams Danielson Chapter and in Plainfield by the Deborah Avery Putnam Chapter to celebrate the George Washington Bicentennial, Guillemette said. Helping with this rededication were DAR members Carol Ryley, Mary Ellen Tomeo and Laurie Jane Waite.
Konicki said the state owns two-thirds of the tiny park. The one-third farthest from Rt. 44 is town owned so the three maples were planted stepped back from Rt. 44, on town land.
Konicki said the state wanted native trees planted so Autumn Blaze maples were chosen.
Guillemette said the Daughters of the American Revolution’s mission is to promote historic preservation, education, and Patriotism.
She said the marker was erected in 1932, in observance of the Washington Bicentennial, by the Elizabeth Porter Putnam Chapter, NSDAR. She was the mother of General Israel Putnam. The chapter was organized in 1897 with 50 Charter members. By 1929 they had 224 members from Putnam, Thompson, and Woodstock. A few notable members were Ellen Larned, Windham County historian; Emma Shaw Colcleugh, journalist; and Gertrude Chandler Warner, author of the Boxcar Children Series.

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Hometown Heroes of WWII
Hannifan: Earned Distinguished Service Cross
By Michael Rocchetti
Michael D. Hannifan (1908-1971) was born Sept. 20, 1908, in Putnam, the eldest son of Irish immigrants – Timothy and Abbey Hannifan. He had three brothers and one sister, all of Putnam. He was a graduate of Putnam High School and Becker Business College in Worcester. He was working as a foreman at a silk mill (Belding Hemingway Corticelli Co) in Putnam when he joined the U.S. Army on 19 March 1941.
After completing Officer Candidate School he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in late 1942. He was assigned to the 36th Infantry Division, from Texas. After extensive training in the U.S., the division was sent to North Africa in April 1943. In September 1943 he fought at Salerno in Italy. Many months of hard fighting would follow in Italy at places like Montecassino and Anzio. In June of 1944 his division fought its way north from Rome to Grosseto in Tuscany.
It was at Grosseto where he earned the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) – the second highest U.S. military award for valor in combat. His citation reads as follows: “In the vicinity of Grosseto Italy, on June 20th 1944, Lieutenant Hannifan was assigned the mission of leading his platoon in a daylight attack against strong enemy positions situated on high ground. When the enemy spotted his platoon and pinned it to the ground with heavy fire from mortars and machine guns, LT Hannifan pressed forward alone in order to locate the machine gun (MG) which had stopped his platoon. Ten yards from the MG position he was fired upon. Instantly dropping to the ground, he hurled grenades into the emplacement with deadly accuracy and eliminated the MG nest. He then led his platoon up the hillside through heavy mortar fire directed from an observation post (OP) on the summit of the hill. LT Hannifan discovered an enemy communication wire, followed it within 20 yards of the OP, but the enemy spotted him and began firing directly at him as he continued to advance up the hill. LT Hannifan charged the OP and with deadly fire, destroyed the post. With the threat of mortar fire removed, he gained ascendency of the important high ground.”
Shortly afterwards, LT Hannifan was wounded in action in and was hospitalized from September till November of 1944. He later rejoined his outfit in France – where he was awarded the DSC by the 36th Infantry Division Commander, Major General John E. Dahlquist. After the war, he returned to Putnam where he worked as a manager at the silk mill. He was active in the community, with the Irish-American Club, and as the Exalted Ruler for the Elks. He was also very active in both scholastic and company sport leagues – playing basketball, baseball, and football. He died Jan. 29, 1971, at the age of 62. He’s buried at St Mary’s Cemetery.
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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Bridge work begins; from sinkhole to roadway
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — Work has already begun on rebuilding the bridge on Needles Eye Road.
First Selectman Maureen Nicholson said the town crews reinforced the existing dam and are working on having the existing culvert lined.
The culvert is far below the road surface. The area from the top of the culvert to the road surface, 15 feet above, was filled with sand, possibly from the Murdock property about 70 years ago. A crack developed in the culvert and the sand flowed through the crack and into the flowing water, leaving a void that resulted in the sinkhole in the road’s surface July 22. Very little water has flowed through in recent years.
And that water, because of the crack in the culvert, was not flowing through the culvert; it was under the sub straight, she said. “It was coming out on the other side in places we didn’t expect,” she said.
Crews shored up the dam wall and a cutout in that concrete wall will redirect water to the culvert. A headwall will surround the culvert, providing more water direction, she said. The water will have no place to go but through the culvert.
The challenge will be that more exploration is needed between the road surface/sinkhole level and what’s below, toward the culvert. The reworked dam is finished and the town is waiting for the culvert to be lined. “We have to explore under the road — see how much erosion has taken place,” Nicholson said.
Depending on what’s found, she said the goal is to have it all done by the end of October.

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