New Hampshire Marine Memorial
A Re-Dedication & Testimonial
May 30, 1957 - May 25, 1974
PROGRAMME
| WINNACUNNET HIGH SCHOOL | 7:30 P.M. |
| INVOCATION | Rev. Herbert N. Lovemore, Pastor Hampton United Methodist Church |
| ADVANCE OF THE COLOURS | Boy Scouts of America, Troop No. 177 |
| PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE | Boy Scouts of America, Troop No. 178 |
| MUSICAL SELECTION | Members of the WHS Band Mr. Stanley W. Bednarz, Director |
| INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS | Mr. Samuel A. Towle, President Hampton Historical Society |
| HISTORY OF THE N.H. MARINE MEMORIAL | Mr. John M. Holman Tuck Memorial Museum Curator |
| REMARKS | Mr. William E. Downs, Guest of Honor Manchester, New Hampshire First Chairman of the Marine Memorial Comm. |
| KEYNOTE SPEAKER | Mr. Reg H. Abbott, Candia, New Hampshire Member of three Marine Memorial Commissions |
| MOMENT OF SILENCE | In Memory Of Those Lost At Sea |
| BENEDICTION | Rev. Donald J. Rankin, Pastor First Congregational Church of Hampton |
| SOCIAL HOUR & REFRESHMENTS | Guest Book Miss Terry Silver, Hostess |
WILLIAM E. DOWNS' PREPARED REMARKS
May 25, 1974:
"MR. HOLMAN, THE OBSERVANCE OF THE NEW HAMPSHIRE MARINE MEMORIAL DEDICATION IS COMMENDABLE AND IS PROPER THAT WE REMEMBER THOSE IT HONORS. YOU HAVE TURNED THE PAGES OF HISTORY BACK TO MAY 25, 1945, WHEN MY SON WAS BURIED AT SEA.
"TWELVE MONTHS LATER, I REQUESTED A GOVERNMENT MARKER TO PLACE ON MY SON'S TOKEN GRAVE, THAT HIS IDENTITY BE RETURNED TO HIS HOMELAND. THIS WAS TURNED DOWN WITH AN ADMONITION FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT WHICH STATED: "DESPITE THOUSANDS OF REQUESTS SUCH AS YOURS, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE A MARKER". THIS INFORMATION CAME TO ME IN SENATOR STYLES BRIDGE'S ANSWER TO MY REQUEST.
"LITERALLY, I HAD COME TO THE END OF MY ROPE, I THEN SOUGHT AND RECEIVED THE SUPPORT OF WILLIAM LOEB OF THE MANCHESTER UNION LEADER NEWSPAPERS. OUR TASK FROM THAT DAY WITH THE HELP OF MANY, WAS THE CREATION OF THE MARINE MEMORIAL.
"REG ABBOTT, A MEMBER OF THE MEMORIAL COMMISSION, UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF SHELBY 0. WALKER, VOLUNTEERED TO THE GREAT TASK OF SECURING THE NAMES THAT APPEAR ON THE HONOR ROLL. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST 200 YEARS, THE NAMES OF THOSE LOST AT SEA FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE DURING ALL WARS, WERE RETURNED HOME TO THE BEACH AT HAMPTON.
"I THANK YOU."
William E. Downs
Manchester, NH
Letters To The Editors
Day of Great Importance to 80,000 Families
By William E. Downs, Manchester, N.H.
Manchester Union Leader, Saturday, August 17, 1974
Addressed to William Loeb: August 14, 1958 was a day of importance worthy of note, when the 85th Congress enacted into law P.L. 85-644 granting the families of 80,000 World War II casualties lost at sea, commemorative markers that could be placed on token graves in family burial plots.
My appreciation, Bill, for your valued assistance through the columns ofd the Manchester Union-Leader newspapers helping make possible the statside memorialization of our heroic war dead lost at sea and thos missisng in action.
WM. E. Downs
558 Concord St., Manchester
{NOTE: See copy of P.L. 85-644 in next article.}
Public Law 85-644
85th Congress, N. R. 4381
August 14, 1958
AN ACT
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Act of July 1, 1948 (62 Stat. 1215; 24 U.S.C. 279a) is amended:
(1) By adding the following sentence after the first sentence of section 1 thereof: "The Secretary of the Army is authorized and directed to furnish, when requested, an appropriate memorial headstone or marker to commemorate any member of the armed forces of the United States dying in the serevice, whose remains have not been recovered or identified or were buried at sea, for placement by the applicant in a national cemetery or in any private or local cemetery."
(2) By amending section 2 thereof to read as follows:
"The Secretary of the Army is authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations with respect to the submission of applications for all Government headstones and markers and other pertinent matters as may be necessary to caryr out the provision of this Act."
Approved August 14, 1958.