Thanks to a few good men —especially Chris Maloney, Dan Kelly, and Richard Hourahan — the generation of Rye citizens who served in World War II will never be forgotten.
By Robin Jovanovich
Thanks to a few good men —especially Chris Maloney, Dan Kelly, and Richard Hourahan — the generation of Rye citizens who served in World War II will never be forgotten.
Last summer, the volunteer trio, took on the ambitious task of assembling an online database of the 1,438 men and women who served in the armed forces.
“We didn’t want them to just be names on a wall outside City Hall,” said Maloney, a lifelong resident who is coordinating the now officially named Rye World War II Veterans Project.
“There is a story behind every name on that wall,” added City Historian Kelly, whose brother, John “Bud” Kelly, was the first draftee from Rye. Archivist/researcher Hourahan said he doesn’t know of any other community that has done this.
For the last eight months, the dedicated volunteers have used every research avenue — the National Archive, U.S. Census rolls, high school yearbooks (Paul Moore scanned over 400 Rye High School student photos), family letters and photo albums — to uncover information about the names that are on the wall.
“We’re the last generation to know World War II veterans,” emphasized Maloney. “We wanted to provide as much of their individual stories as we could so that these stories would endure.”
To date, the group has uncovered information on 1,300 of the service members — a heroic accomplishment in itself.
Before this year’s Memorial Day Observance, the group aims to have information on every soldier killed in action. (Those names are read out by a member of Rye American Legion Post 128 at the annual Memorial Day Observance on the Village Green.) The ultimate goal is to create an interactive time capsule for future Rye generations.
What’s truly remarkable is the Web site (ryeww2.org) the group has created. Every veteran has a page. These pages make for compelling reading not only for the children of the “greatest generation,” but for our children and future generations.
Just as history called on our citizens in 1941, members of the Rye World War II Veterans Project are calling on residents today. To ensure that the group is able to provide information on every Rye service member, “to humanize” those who served, they need the community’s help.
“We have robust profiles on some of our people,” said Kelly. “But for others, we have only their dates of birth and death, and the branch they entered. And we know there’s so much more to their stories. Those stories are waiting to be told. All we need is for more folks to join the Project to help us source and input the information.”
Email info@ryeww2.org if you have stories or archival materials to share.
Their Web site allows visitors to offer additional color on the individuals it commemorates, and has a section that will house recollections of life on the Rye home front during the war years.
“We know the names of those who served during our darkest hours thanks to the monument on the east wall of City Hall,” said Maloney. “But somewhere behind the names on that brass plaque there are the untold stories of people. Rye people. Teenagers that played on our fields, sat in our classrooms, lived in our neighborhoods, and walked the same streets we walk today. They did not choose to be involved in the most epic undertaking of our time. History chose them. We are awed by what they and their contemporaries accomplished, and we are determined to ensure that here in Rye, our history will remember them well.”
On Sunday, May 26, a special exhibit honoring those 1,438 men and women and drawn from material generated by the project, will open at the Square House.
