Fountain recaptures its youth
Monument gets facelift in time for Veterans Day observance
The Daily Mail
Nov. 11, 2009

The monument and fountain honoring the service of more than 50 Cairo residents who fought in World War I received a facelift just in time for the annual Veteran’s Day ceremony held there.

The bronze plaque bearing the names of the servicemen, including five who lost their lives in the conflict, which was dedicated on Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1922, had become monochrome, its names becoming hard to read, and had been damaged with age.

On Monday and Tuesday, Steve Roy, of Brewster-based Argos Inc., cleaned off the corrosion and applied a protective patina coating to the plaque. Now the names of Cairo’s soldiers shine yellow against a field of brown.

“It looks good,” Cairo Town Supervisor John Coyne said Tuesday afternoon.

Roy, who has restored an 80-foot statue of Robert E. Lee, a Henry Moore sculpture at the Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Va. and countless other works around the United States and Europe, removed two stars from the plaque. Those he will use to cast replacements for stars by the names of Virnel Butler and Floyd Hawver, who along with Joel M. Austin, Joseph P. Chadderdon and Frank Hitchcock were killed in action. Replacement stars for two of the plaque’s corners will be re-cast and replaced, as well.

Town Historian Robert Uzzilia said various groups have cared for the World War I plaza at the fork of Jerome Avenue and Main Street over the years but the fountain developed cracks and the plaque became corroded with age. He said the work completed by Tuesday had been admirable.

“The very least we can do to honor the veterans is to keep the plaque legible to keep their sacrifice in mind,” he said.

Councilwoman Alice Tunison, who worked to find Roy and others who bid on the work, said the restoration was long overdue.

“They are receiving the honor they deserve,” she said of the servicemen.

Tunison said Roy would complete the plaque restoration and some fountain repairs for no more than $3,900. The Town received a $2,500 grant to pay for some of the work.

Tunison said she hoped veterans groups or individuals would donate some money toward the project, as well.

“It’s going to be amazing,” she said of the finished plaque. “It is a sophisticated and worthwhile endeavor.”

“We need to preserve these things,” Coyne added.

Artifacts belonging to George A. True, who fought with the infantry in France, and others, are on display in the Cairo municipal building lobby. True returned to Cairo after the war, his daughter-in-law Dot True said, and lived in Round Top. George A. True Sr. ran the Round Top House bed and breakfast in a house built for him by his parents upon his return, Dot True said.

His father-in-law was a major in the Civil War and his son and Dot True’s husband, George A. True Jr., served in Korea with the U.S. Marine Corps. George A. True Jr. died in 2004.

Although Dot True never met her father-in-law, she said he was not known to speak about his experiences in World War I.

George A. True Sr. and others who served in World War I will be honored Wednesday at 11 a.m. Veterans of other conflicts will be recognized, too.