Dear Editor:
With the upcoming celebration of Memorial Day approaching, we will also observe the 100th Anniversary of World War I. The USA did not enter till 1917, but Britain, France were fighting Germany- The Hun.
Hoboken has every right to observe the anniversary, as she played such a part in WWI, as no other location.
It was the port of embarkation where thousands of troops left the USA and sailed to fight in France and Germany. Gen “Black Jack” Pershing US Army gave his famous speech to troops that a great battle was forth coming and some might die. If you died you went to heaven or hell, if you lived-you came back to Hoboken.
“Heaven, Hell or Hoboken”
The beautiful giant boulders located on Pier A, came from France as ballast to weigh down ships returning with bodies of soldiers to their families – someone in our local Knights of Columbus remarked “that would be a beautiful memory from France to Hoboken.”
And stories of troops debarking from trains and marching up 2nd and 3rd St. up to awaiting troop ships ready to sail the Atlantic.
Yes, Hoboken, you will always be a veteran’s town. These monuments are our hollowed grounds, second of course our great WWII memorial at Sinatra Park, naming some 160 Hoboken boys who left, but never came back.
Remember all our vets.
Jack O’Brien