Around Town

New Canaan VFW Calls for Donations to Support Wreath Placements on Graves of Veterans Buried in Town

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The local Veterans of Foreign Wars post is calling for New Canaanites to support its effort to place a year on the gravestone of those who have served and buried in New Canaan. This year, some 985 wreaths were placed on the grave sites veterans from the French and Indian War, Revolutionary War, Civil War, First and Second World Wars, Korean War and Vietnam War, for a total cost of more than $,9000, according to town resident Peter C. Langenus, commander of New Canaan VFW Post 653, who served as a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam and as a colonel during Operation Desert Storm. “Not one penny or dollar of taxpayer money is used to fund this annual project,” Langenus said. “The cost of this annual project increases each year as the number of veterans honored increases each year.”

Many New Canaanites will know Langenus, who has helped to lead solemn services following the Memorial Day parade as well as on Veterans Day. Langenus and the VFW are asking locals to donate to the VFW in order to support the nonprofit organization’s wreath program, launched many years ago with the New Canaan Exchange Club.

Around Town

VIDEO: 2014 New Canaan Memorial Day Parade, Service

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New Canaan Memorial Day Parade, May 26, 2014
Uploaded by Michael Dinan on 2014-05-26. The video above (there’s also a slideshow here) features clips from New Canaan’s 2014 Memorial Day Parade—held on a picture-perfect, clear and warm spring day—as well as from the solemn, dignified ceremony at Lakeview Cemetery that followed. There, we heard from the Rev. Eric Fjeldal of the United Methodist Church on South Avenue, as well as First Selectman Rob Mallozzi, Peter Langenus, commander of VFW Post 653, and guest speaker Gary Macintyre of New Canaan, a U.S. Navy veteran. Wreaths were placed at the bottom of a flagpole later lowered to half-mast in honor of the United States’ fallen military members, including by Grand Marshal John Wilson. In introducing Macintyre, Mallozzi described him as both a “longtime New Canaan resident and small business owner.”

Macintyre started his career in the U.S. Navy as a reservist, Mallozzi said, and after graduating from Norwalk Community College he went on to active duty as a petty officer in navigation on board the USS Grand Canyon.