Letter: New Canaan Loses Veterans’ Leader and Hero with Passing of Peter Langenus

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On behalf of our town, I want to note with great sadness the passing of Peter Langenus on January 17th due to cancer.

Peter C. Langenus

Peter was a U.S. Army combat veteran of the Vietnam War serving there in 1970 and he also was activated to service in Desert Storm in 1991.  He retired from the Army as a Colonel and during his career was awarded the Legion of Merit, 3 Bronze Stars, 12 meritorious service medals and 12 other individual medals.

As Commander of local VFW Lodge 653, Peter for many years organized the Town’s annual Memorial Day Parade and Lakeview Cemetery Ceremony honoring New Canaan’s war dead and also organized and led the Town’s annual Veteran’s Day Ceremony at God’s Acre.

Peter also led the annual placing of flags on veterans’ graves for Memorial Day and wreaths at Christmas time. He organized and led the effort to memorialize New Canaan veterans’ names on plaques hanging in the entry hall at Town Hall, and assisted an Eagle Scout candidate’s project in November 2019 to display photos of New Canaan veterans on lamp posts downtown.

Peter was also an active participant and leader in many other New Canaan area civic activities including the Boys Scouts of America, particularly local Troop 70.

I extend my personal condolences and also on behalf of our Town to Peter’s wife, Eileen, his son Brendan and wife Jenn, his four siblings and many nieces and nephews, and his mother-in-law, New Canaan resident Jean McCormick.

Peter Langenus will be dearly missed by his many friends and fellow veterans.

Kevin J. Moynihan
First Selectman
Town of New Canaan

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