NEWBURGH – The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor organization, in conjunction with sponsors American Airlines and ShopRite Supermarkets, hosted a two-day event for Purple Heart recipients to tour and enjoy key areas around the Hudson Valley, culminating in a Welcome Home Rally at the Newburgh Unity Armory Wednesday evening.
In total, 33 veterans, all Purple Heart recipients, from 30 states, were honored one final time before heading back home after the hour-long ceremony.
Russ Vernon, a retired colonel with the Army National Guard and Newburgh resident, served as master of ceremonies, introducing and then sharing the stage for the evening with the veterans.
Following the introduction of the veterans and invocation, guest speaker Paul Bucha, himself a Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Medal of Honor recipient, delivered a powerful speech to the hundreds in attendance.
Bucha focused much of his speech on the importance of honor as a building block for leadership.
“The most important ingredient for leadership is honor, because trust comes from honor. If in fact you are known to be a liar you cannot lead. We have to teach the young kids coming in our footsteps that it’s not worth compromising your honor for whatever false thing you might receive from that.”
After the theme songs of the various branches of the military were sung, Vernon took the stage once again to close out the evening, doing so with a quote from a poem of another serviceman.
“I would like you to listen carefully to the words of army veteran Charles Prevant, which are powerful and on point,” Vernon said. “‘It is the soldier sailor, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier sailor, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier sailor, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier and the sailor, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag whose coffin is draped in the flag who allows the protester to burn the flag’.”
| Name | State | Conflict | Rank |
| Richard S. Allen | Florida | Vietnam | CPL |
| Heather Armstrong | Oregon | Iraq | SPC |
| Andrew Bennett | New Mexico | Afghanistan | SSG |
| Matthew Birr | Minnesota | Afghanistan | SGT |
| Danny Brown | Louisiana | Vietnam | SGT |
| Calvin Bunnell | Alaska | Iraq | SFC |
| Peter Comstock | New Mexico | Vietnam | CAP |
| Jon Cook | California | Vietnam | SGT |
| Robert Cox | Hawaii | Vietnam | SGT |
| Robert Dickerson | South Dakota | Iraq | SGM |
| Daniel Eddinger | Connecticut | Vietnam | MAJ |
| Ralph Ferguson | Arkansas | Iraq | SFC |
| Dennis Fetter | Missouri | Vietnam | SGT |
| Daniel Finn | Illinois | Vietnam | SPC |
| Barry Gasdek | Wyoming | Vietnam | LTC |
| Joseph Guchek | New Jersey | Vietnam | SSG |
| John Jackson | Delaware | Vietnam | CAP |
| Dennis Kulczyk | New York | Vietnam | SPC |
| Paul Lazzara | North Carolina | Vietnam | SGT |
| Gary Lewis | Oklahoma | Vietnam | SPC |
| Jon Lunkwicz II | Texas | Vietnam | SGT |
| George Mabe | North Carolina | Vietnam | SGT |
| Ralph McNamara | Nevada | Vietnam | CW3 |
| Michael Mescavage | Pennsylvania | Vietnam | PFC |
| Russell Morgan | Georgia | Vietnam | Lance CPL |
| Franklin Ripley | Colorado | Vietnam | MAJ |
| LeRoy Schuff | Wisconsin | Korea | GYSGT |
| Robert Suesakul | Iowa | Iraq | SFC |
| Donald Turano | Idaho | Vietnam | 1st LT |
| Michael Weaver | Alabama | Vietnam | LTC SSG |
| William Weldon | Arizona | Vietnam | SSG |
| Brian Willette | Massachusetts | Afghanistan | SSG |
| Gustav Wittschack | Texas | Vietnam | SFC |
