New Britain Borough Rededicates War Memorial

More than 100 people gathered in New Britain Saturday to honor the ultimate sacrifice of a man they never knew.

They assembled under brilliant sunshine outside the New Britain Baptist Church on South Tamanend Avenue for the rededication of the H. Walter Harvey War Memorial. More than a dozen of Harvey’s relatives—all born after he died in France in 1918 at age 29—were among the veterans, scouts, government officials and interested borough residents there to pay tribute not only to Harvey but to all who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

“Unfortunately many people take our freedom for granted.... Many thousands of lives have been sacrificed to preserve our freedom,” retired U.S. Air Force Colonel James Davis said during the invocation. “Freedom caries a very, very heavy price tag. Remember, freedom isn’t free.”

Borough Mayor David Holewinski asked those in attendance to visit the war memorial regularly. “And remember all of those who died for us,” he said.

Originally built in 1923 as a memorial to Harvey and to honor the borough’s nine World War I veterans, the pavilion-type structure was heavily damaged in the 1960s, losing its roof during a hurricane.

“I’m so glad to see it refurbished,” said Harvey’s niece Eleanor Fitzgerald, as she stood under the white structure with a gray shingled roof.

“I’m so glad to see Veterans Day as a positive thing,” added Harvey’s nephew Dennis Fox.

Saturday’s dedication ceremony, one day after the national holiday, was hosted by the borough’s Historic Preservation Committee and included a military color guard and a bagpiper.

The $2,000 all-volunteer restoration project was led by 80-year-old borough resident Bruce Burkart, an Army veteran of the Korean War. Although he spent most of his career in business, Burkart is a trained carpenter and was part of the construction crew that rebuilt the memorial.

Burkart’s father, Henry Parmalee Burkart, and his uncle, George Ellwood Rowland, are two of the World War I veterans listed on the plaque at the memorial. Rowland was shot in the mouth and sent stateside to a hospital in Maryland. His nurse, Bernadette, later became his wife.

The plaque honoring the war heroes was missing for years after the hurricane but eventually was located in a closet at the church. Although the names were facing toward the wall, Burkart said, “As soon as I saw it I knew what it was.”

In addition to Harvey and Burkart’s father and uncle, the plaque lists the names of George Benjamin Matthews, Frank Crouthamel, his brother Howard Boyer Crouthamel, John P. Williams, his brother George Williams, Army nurse Ethel Louise Malcolm and Harold Edgar Haldeman. It was moved to borough hall, where it was kept until the memorial restoration was complete.

Ruth Peters, whose mother was Harvey’s youngest sibling and was only 12 when he died, said her uncle was originally buried in France. His body was moved to Beulah Cemetery down the road from the church in 1921 at his mother, Emma Harvey’s insistence.

“His mother wanted him home,” Peters said, adding she was told his body was carried to the cemetery on a horse-drawn wagon.

Harvey was wounded on July 16, 1918. He died of his wounds 40 days later on Aug. 25.

Marine Capt. Richard Fay, a borough resident who served in Iraq and was one of the speakers during the rededication, told the crowd that Veterans Day celebrations like theirs “serve as a testament to the American community.”

“Understand that what you’re doing today transcends our history,” he said.