Keeping Memory Alive

Every Veterans Day the nation pays tribute to the men and women who served in the armed forces, and the day chosen to honor them, November 11, was the day World War I ended in 1918. That same war is commemorated in Southampton Village’s Agawam Park, with the stunning memorial serving as the park’s centerpiece.

There are no surviving veterans of “the Great War” — all we have left are memories, and monuments. And, sadly, the monument in Agawam Park suggests that our attention to that particular moment in history is waning. But just as Veterans Day is meant to remind us of the sacrifice of all veterans, living and dead, of all wars, so the village’s monument, designed by architect William Edgar Moran and dedicated in 1923, serves the same purpose: How we honor the military dead of World War I speaks to our respect for all veterans and serves as a visible reminder of that respect.

The Southampton Village Board and Mayor Jesse Warren are addressing that issue right now, after the memorial has been fenced off for months, an unsightly barrier meant to limit the further deterioration of the structure. A restoration plan will be drawn up, and the repairs are expected to cost as much as $400,000, according to Village Board member Gina Arresta, who described the monument as “actually crumbling.”

A renovation in 1993 and another in 2013 slowed the disintegration but didn’t stop it. And it’s not just cosmetic concerns — the roof is crumbling and a support beam has cracked, steps have worn out, and pitting and cracks threaten the stone’s integrity in places. Water is doing its destructive work steadily over the years.

Time, like water, erodes, steadily erases and eventually washes away. But damage can be reversed — the toll of both water and time are not irreparable. Important structures, like important ideas, can be saved from ravage.

That’s what’s at stake as the village begins its fundraising campaign this Veterans Day to make repairs. It’s about preserving not just stone but memory. It demonstrates that our gratitude to our veterans doesn’t fade over time. Even stone is vulnerable, but the message contained in those smooth surfaces endures.

Many words will be spoken this Veterans Day to acknowledge the debt we owe to American veterans, but Southampton Village offers a more tangible way to show appreciation. Honor those men and women by contacting Village Hall and making a donation to protect not just the monument but the sentiment it conveys: We remember.