Borough pays tribute to those who serve
Pictures of servicemen, servicewomen displayed on Wall of Honor
BY DANIEL HOWLEY Staff Writer

DANIEL HOWLEY The West Long Branch 'Wall of Honor' hangs at Borough Hall and features the pictures of servicemen and women who served in wars dating as far back as the American Revolution.

WEST LONG BRANCH - The community of West Long Branch is paying tribute to the servicemen and women of the past and present through its Wall of Honor displayed at borough hall.

The wall was unveiled in 2006 after Councilwoman Barbara Ruane brought the idea before council. With the wall a reality, Ruane said she plans to expand the tribute this spring.

"What I think I am going to do is get two smaller [walls] on either side of the original wall, so the first will still be the centerpiece and there will be one on either side," Ruane said last week.

"This way, the three [walls] will tie together nicely and all of the featured people will have an equal status," she said.

The wall is located at the rear of the borough hall meeting room and features 68 photographs of servicemen and servicewomen. The pictures displayed represent people who once lived in West Long Branch, currently live inWest Long Branch or whose family members are residents of the borough.

Under each photograph hanging on the wall is a plaque listing the name of the service member, his or her rank, and in which branch of the military he or she served.

"We have a lot of World War II people on the wall," Ruane said. "We also have [pictures of] headstones up there because we have some residents whose families go back to the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

"We didn't actually have pictures of them, but their families still live here and they are buried here," she said.

The Wall of Honor holds a special meaning for Ruane, who said she is thankful for the sacrifices made by the country's service members.

"We can't say enough about our servicemen and women, especially during this time with all that is going on," Ruane said. "We have so many residents in town involved in the military.

"My son has friends in the Middle East that he graduated with," she said, adding that she believes the borough should do all it can to pay tribute to the troops.

The Wall of Honor was "a labor of love" for Ruane, who said her husband and brother both served in the military.

"My husband is a Vietnam veteran and my brother, who passed away when he was 28, was in the Air Force and is on the wall.

"There is a lot of military in our family, but it wasn't just for me," she added.

Ruane explained that she had proposed the idea for the wall to council as a way for the borough to honor those who served as well as those who continue to serve in the armed forces.

The wall is a tribute to the servicemen and servicewomen of West Long Branch, and borough families can also choose to feature a loved one or family member on the wall, according to Ruane.

"What we do is we welcome West Long Branch residents or a West Long Branch resident's family member," Ruane said. "If a service member has family in town, they can also be on the wall."

The wall was designed based on a Wall of Honor that hangs in neighboring Oceanport.

"The late Oceanport Mayor Maria Gatta had done a military Wall of Honor in their borough hall, but it was more of a collage," Ruane said. "I thought it was kind of a nice tribute, so I used that idea."

Ruane said feedback from the community has been extremely positive and many residents continue to thank the borough for the wall.

"The [West Long Branch] wall received a lot of publicity when it was first discussed, so it was probably about half full when it was unveiled," Ruane said.

"The remainder of the wall was filled up as we continued to receive more pictures. We had a pretty full house for the dedication [of the wall in May 2006] at borough hall.

"We sent out letters to everybody that submitted a picture and invited their families to come. We read the names of the people featured on the wall. It was an emotional thing.

"I got a lot of thanks for the wall. I thought it was very nice, but it apparently touched a lot of people, too," Ruane said.

The wall cost approximately $600 and was paid for through donations from several borough groups, including the West Long Branch Lions Club, the West Long Branch First Aid Squad, the West Long Branch chapter of the American Legion and the Thomas James Group, as well as from contributions from borough residents.

Ruane said that she and her family were committed to seeing the wall completed at an affordable

cost.

"My husband did some of the labor on it, which saved us a lot of money," she said.

Ruane, who is also heading the borough's Centennial Committee, said she included information about the wall in a special centennial edition newsletter that was sent to borough residents.

"From [the newsletter] we got another 12 or 13

pictures," Ruane said. "[The pictures] come in as

people hear about the wall."

In addition to the wall, the display also includes a book containing the biographies of each person who is pictured on the wall.

"Some people gave a little bit of information and some gave two pages," Ruane said. "You can match up the name on the wall to the person's biography in the book.

"You can look up their connection to the borough, find what war they were in and what rank they were," she said.

Ruane said the residents of West Long Branch continue to express interest in the wall.

"It seems like every meeting somebody new will come in and be [at the wall] going through the book and looking at the pictures," Ruane said.

The addition to the original wall is expected to be completed in March.

"We haven't gotten a lot of donations on this one, so we are looking to scale it back," Ruane said.

Anyone interested in submitting a service member's photo to be featured on the Wall of Honor can call West Long Branch Borough Hall at (732) 229-1756.