Interpreting
the Past - Research by the Windham Town Historian
Honor a Veteran Project, Part 1 - Windham's Civil War Book
Honor a Veteran Project, Part 2 - Catskill Mountain Post No. 1545, VFW Renamed for Sgt. James F. Carty
Honor
a Veteran Project, Part 3 - Windham's World War I Monument in Hensonville
Honor
a Veteran Project, Part 4- Maplecrest's World War II Roll of Honor
Honor
a Veteran, Part 5 - Windham Township Honor Roll
Honor
a Veteran Project, Part 6 - WAJ Roll of Honor, Graduates and Members of the
Faculty
Honor a Veteran Project, Part 7 - National Bank of Windham's World War II Honor Roll Poster
by Patricia Morrow, Windham Town Historian
Originally published in the April 7, 2005, issue of the Windham Journal.
Local veterans of the Spanish-American War and World War I met
in 1928 to form a Veterans of Foreign Wars post on the Mountain Top. Twenty-nine
were in attendance when they selected the name Catskill Mountain Post and
elected the following officers: James W. Francis, commander; Lloyd L. Peck,
senior vice-commander; Joseph A. McArdle, junior vice-commander; Grant F. Morse,
chaplain; Alfred T. Seeley, officer of the day; August B. Schippell, adjutant;
Charles H. Littmann, quartermaster; James F. Carty, color sergeant; Raymond
Barlow and Roland E. Miles color guards; Arthur F. Khuen and Edward B. Steele,
color bearers; and Sherwood O'Brien, bugler. The remaining charter members were
Stanley Barlow, Stephen Bernhard, Arthur Blakeslee, John Cleveland, Leonard L.
Cook, Darwin DeLong, John G. Leger, Paul Mattoon, Valentine W. Morrow, George
Muller, Donald F. Munson, Arthur A. Nelson, Raymond C. Rivenburg, Byron S.
Smith, Clarence Van Valkenburgh and John Zegel.
Catskill Mountain Post No. 1545, VFW of Windham was instituted on February 21,
1928, and the highly decorated Sergeant James F. Carty was appointed Deputy
Chief of Staff of Greene County. Meetings were held twice a month in the Windham
Masonic Temple. During their first year the VFW purchased and renovated Kelly's
sawmill at the western end of Windham Village, nicknaming it "The
Dugout".
On November 28, 1929, charter member James F. Carty died in the Kingston City
Hospital. At their next meeting the men voted to rename the post in his honor
upon securing the consent of his family and the National Headquarters. On May
24, 1930, the name of the post was officially changed to Sgt. James F. Carty,
D.S.C. Post No. 1545, VFW.
Sergeant Carty was buried in Ashland's Pleasant Valley Cemetery where a bronze
plaque attached to a rock bears this inscription:
In Memory of
Sgt. James F. Carty
Divisional Sergeant Observer
26th Division
A. E. F.
Awarded D. S. C., Medaille Militaire,
Croix de Guerre with Palm
Enlisted Apr. 25, 1917
Discharged Apr. 21, 1919
Born Aug. 31, 1895
Died Nov. 28, 1929