Carmel Earns First Purple Heart Designation in Putnam
Calling it a “momentous occasion for the Town of Carmel,” Supervisor Ken Schmitt and the rest of the town board officially designated Carmel as a Purple Heart Town, honoring local veterans in Putnam and the rest of the region.
In front of a modest yet proud crowd, town officials handed down proclamations and appreciation to about a dozen veterans from every era and every part of the military last Wednesday, a nod to veterans and their families for the sacrifices they endured. Though Putnam was the first county in the state to be designated a Purple Heart County, Carmel now has the accolade of becoming the first town to be a Purple Heart community in the county.
“Tonight is about us thanking you for your service and your sacrifices,” Schmitt said.
Neil Gross, commander of The Military Order of the Purple Heart Chapter 21, said he reached out to Carmel as part of a larger effort to get as many towns and villages in the region to become Purple Heart communities. Gross said the point of reaching out to towns like Carmel is to education children about the sacrifices veterans and even current servicemen and servicewomen make for the country.
If veterans and other local leaders don’t make the effort to educate a younger generation, “then shame on us,” Gross, who grew up in Putnam Valley, said.
“Freedom it not free,” Gross, now a Yorktown resident, said. “It’s costly.”
Richard Drago of Newburgh also noted how critical education plays in keeping citizens in the various towns throughout the region aware of the struggles some of their veteran neighbors experience regardless of which era they served.
“It’s more about the guys who didn’t make it back than the guys who got wounded,” Drago said, adding with a slight laugh. “The guys who got wounded were in the right place at the wrong time.”
Kent resident Charlie Moore said it was very nice to receive honor from Carmel, considering when he came home from the Vietnam War, “we weren’t very well liked.”
“So the opportunity that was presented here tonight kind of makes up for that,” Moore said.
County officials like County Executive MaryEllen Odell, legislators Kevin Wright, Dini LoBue, and Joe Castellano were all on hand. Representatives from New York State Sen. Terrence Murphy and US Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney were also in attendance.
Odell said the county plans to host the “The Moving Wall,” which is a traveling half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in September.
Near the end of the ceremony, Schmitt noted the town and Purple Hearts Homes, an organization committed to ensuring quality of life housing for veterans, are seeking a veteran that owns a home in Carmel or Mahopac and needs help with repairs and renovations.
Schmitt said he hopes other towns and villages in Putnam follow suit with Carmel and designate their municipalities as Purple Heart communities. When asked if he’d be reaching out to the other local governments, Gross said he certainly would.
“Why? When a kid drives by a town and sees a sign up there that they’re a Purple Heart town, they’re going to ask their mom and dad what does that mean,” Gross said. “Hopefully the parents will know enough and share with the kid.”
