Honor in any style

As National Hispanic Heritage Month drew to a close, American Legion National Commander Daniel Seehafer took time out during his visit to the Department of New York to tour a naval park in Buffalo full of memorials and monuments to conflicts and veteran groups – including minority veterans.

Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park is the largest inland naval park in the country, with structures and ships. Canada is faintly visible past a Coast Guard lighthouse and across the lip of Lake Erie. On Oct. 13, Seehafer inspected the boats, but not before stopping at a pair of monuments to pay respects and lay wreaths, surrounded by Legionnaires, Legion leadership and local officials.

The Western New York Hispanic American Veterans Memorial was dedicated in June 2013. Ventura Colon is service officer of Gabriel A. Rodriguez Post 1928, and president of the memorial’s committee. He said the process of construction began before 2008 with him, fellow veterans and local city council member David Rivera. They knew well the history of the Hispanic veteran population in their region, and “we felt a special recognition was in order.” Of the 11 current members of the committee, nine are also members of Post 1928.

The group had a great deal of input into the memorial’s design, which includes both a male and a female figure – said to be rarely combined in one design – and small inset enamel flags from the United States and the 21 Western Hemisphere countries from where most Hispanic American veterans trace their heritage. The committee is working on getting the flags repainted; 10 years near a major lake have faded them.

Post 1928 provided a color guard, and Francis J. Donovan Post 1626 a firing squad and bugler to sound taps. Post 1928 co-sponsors activities at the memorial each Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Apr. 13 (since 2021 National Borinqueneers Day, dedicated to the Puerto Rican veterans who served in the last segregated unit in the Army; several live or have lived in Buffalo).

In his comments to the assembled members at the memorial, Seehafer stated that “the whole Legion Family thanks you” for serving and continuing to serve. He recounted that more than 1 in 5 Medal of Honor recipients through U.S. history have been immigrants, and spoke of the Legion’s support for immigrant veterans. Post 1928 Commander John Sanabria reiterated who the memorial was built for: “all the Latinos in New York state who have served.” He pointed out his post’s diversity of both races and ages, and stated, “The future is our younger veterans. Let’s go get them.”

Seehafer and the dignitaries had just visited the African American Veterans Monument, up the walk from the Hispanic memorial. Only dedicated in September 2022, the monument is “the ‘first of its kind’ in the nation to honor all African American veterans who have served this country, beginning with the Revolutionary War,” according to Robin Hodges, chief operations and impact officer for the monument as well as a member of Jesse Clipper Post 430. The design stands out from its companion memorials in the park: 12 black concrete pillars 10 feet tall and 3 feet wide, in a chronological sequence of the dates of each of the nation’s military conflicts. According to the monument’s website, the tops light up, “representing the candles families would put in their windows as a beacon to guide a soldier home.”

Hodges, along with Post 430 chaplain and past commander Rev. Eugene Pierce, were among the individual Legionnaires involved in the process of erecting and dedicating the monument. Pierce said the committee decided at its inception that it was “beyond time for African American veterans to be represented at Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park and in the nation.” Both Hodges and Pierce credited New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes as being an instrumental force in obtaining land and other resources for the project. Post 430 and Bennett-Wells Post 1780 purchased commemorative bricks in their names as a financial contribution and solicited other Legionnaires to purchase bricks as well. According to Hodges, efforts are underway to secure a national designation for the monument.

Seehafer, in his remarks, praised “the shoulders of veterans of previous wars on which we stand,” and reminded the audience that while veterans have historically dealt with issues stemming from their service, some groups suffered “even greater indignities” – and yet continued to serve with honor, then and now.

“It’s never too late to say thank you,” he concluded.

View a photo gallery here.