Today the Conservancy remembers our dear friends World War II Veterans Jack and Roy Vanasco. Four brothers, Terry, Roy, Joe and Jack all signed up for the National Guard early on but were sent home because they were underage. They all went on to serve in the Army except for Roy, who served in the Navy. Jack dropped out of John Jay High School to serve our country and he received an honorary degree in 2003.

*Photo: World War II Veterans Jack and Roy Vanasco*

*from Roy's obituary: .."he was a member of the New York National Guard, 27th Division with his brothers Jack and Joe,and about a dozen friends of his. When the war broke out in December 1941, they all joined the Home Guard. But they weren't old enough;they lied about their ages when they joined. They wanted to ship out to Hawaii with the Home Guard, and all the parents on the block and in the neighborhood, whose children lied about their age, stormed in to see the general and the general reprimanded the mothers: " You never should've signed the papers to enlist you sons in the Home Guard". But he gave them honorable discharges.

It is remarkable that the Vanasco Brothers returned home from service without external injury. What sets Roy and Jack apart and makes them so special to us was their tenacious advocacy and devotion to the Brooklyn War Memorial with the goal of its reopening.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day