Asbury Park VFW Donates To Doughboy Restoration
Belmar Historical Society launches $20K fundraising campaign to fix vandalized WWI statue
Asbury Park’s Harold Daley VFW Post No. 1333 and Manasquan VFW Post 1838 came together Sunday to offer support to the Belmar Historical Society’s fundraising campaign to repair its Spirit of the American Doughboy statue damaged by vandals.
WWII Veteran Lou Parisi and Vietnam War Veteran Wayne Jackson joined Commander Frank Brogna in delivering a check for $500, matching the award by Ret. Col Jim Bagley of the Manasquan post.
Brogna said the Asbury Post was among those in attendance at the May 30 1930 dedication ceremony.
“As we took part so many years ago in the dedication of this monument, we proudly take part in helping to rebuild it,” he said during the event.
The statue is among 136 statues remaining across the nation, eight of which are located in New Jersey, said Society President Spencer Heulitt whose family can be traced back to the town’s founding. His ancestor Harold Heulitt is among the 102 names affixed on a plaque bearing the names of the Belmar residents who served in World War I.
The statue not only pays tribute to World War I veterans but “it also stands as a reminder that we have to honor the sacrifice of all our veterans and service people,” he said.
Society Vice President Pat O’Keefe said the statue was rededicated on Nov. 11, 2006 after two years of reconstruction. The vandalism was first noted on Sept. 12, 2016. The bronze statue was shifted off its base and the rifle was damaged. The culprit(s) were never found.
“It is hard to find those who specialized in this type of work,” she said.
Located in Doughboy Park on West Railroad Avenue, the statue is a depiction of an infantryman clutching a grenade is his raised right hand and a rifle in his left as he advances through ‘no man’s land’ amid shattered tree stumps and barbed wire.
Heulitt said they have found a company in New York who could do the restoration work at an estimated cost of $20,000.
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