ACHSBanner8

Town of Alma, Allegany County, NY

HONOR ROLL

allentown_honor_roll

WORLD WAR II

by Ron Taylor

One of the customs which has not been highly repeated and was obvious to many of our area citizens was the Honor Roll Board displayed in many towns across the United States during and following the second World War.

The Town of Alma had an Honor Roll Board and as a kid I remembered it standing on Main Street and I always thought it showed a great deal respect for those people, men and women, who gave their all for their fellow citizens.

Recently I rediscovered the Honor Roll Board stored safely in the Town Hall.  It took on a new and different meaning all of a sudden as I looked at the names that were displayed and realized that almost all of these veterans are no longer with us and that I had personally know almost all of them.

The Historian is unsure if this board properly displays all of the Town of Alma Vets or if it was done for the Allentown area only.

As I approach three score plus ten and tend to have different values than I had when younger I find it more interesting to research items rather than to pass them by without notice.  Such is this board.....

After mentioning it to several of my friends from my "growing up" years in Allentown I was sent another photo of the board.  It was a bit different and created a lot of interesting emails regarding its content.

The picture of the board above was apparently done near the end of the war or after the war since it contains 74 names and all that served, as accurately as known.

Below is a photo of the same board, with many less names, and it caused a lot of question until it was acknowledged that the photo was taken during the war circa 1943 and had been in a family photo album.

allentown_honor_roll2

This sign which was displayed in 1943 was located on Main Street diagonally across the street from where the present day Post Office is situated.  In the background is show the former Elton Swarthout home.  The lot it stood on was west of the original frame school house in Allentown which served as the school until the 1884 multi-floor wooden school was built.

I surely do wish that someone had kept track of all the veterans records of residents of the Town of Alma so we could publish them here.  If anyone has the information, please submit it to me for publication. 

Email:  Ron Taylor, Alma Town Historian

(email updated 1/4/2015)