Dear Putnam Valley Community:
Today, as we memorialize the 75th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, I want to thank the Putnam Valley History Club and advisor Vin DeGregorio for making sure that Putnam Valley schools demonstrate reverence and gratitude on this very special day for America and the world. I was fortunate last summer to visit Normandy Beach with my sister to see the place of great devastation and remarkable valor. I heard a narration of liberation from the French guide and saw the tank and artillery emplacements still in place. Normandy is a sacred place where thousands of young sons and fathers perished, and I walked the beach in awe and appreciation of so many lives lost to ensure our freedom and safety.
There are photos attached to this message from the high school display and my trip last summer. More recently, I met a very special survivor of World War II. His name is Ed Malberg and he lives in Ossining. Recently he celebrated his 100th birthday at a retrospective art show. Ed is a wonderful gentleman, humorous and a great conversationalist. He was well known as an illustrator for the Saturday Evening Post, and he served in WWII as a cartographer. Ed drew the maps for the battlefields and the movements of troops associated with D-Day and throughout the invasion of Europe. He worked closely with General Eisenhower, drawing in a large tent that was regularly under bombardment. Today he reminds us that the survivors of that war have much to teach us about how to live wisely and well.
Sincerely,
Dr. Frances Wills
Superintendent of Schools
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