The honorary military board in council chambers returned to borough hall in July with an addition of a sixth insignia.
The board which had wooden carvings of all the military branches had been installed in council chambers last year and was taken down temporarily to add the Merchant Marines to the five branches of the United States military (United States Merchant Marines to the United States Army, United States Navy, United States Air Force, United States Marine Corps, and United States Coast Guard).
During the July 21st Mayor & Council meeting, Mayor Carl Hokanson spoke on the addition, “When we went to do this, those were bought by Councilman (Michael) Yakubov back in October of 2010 from a guy at a street fair in Westfield. We hunted high and low for this guy.”
The mayor continued, “With the help of Mark Pasquali we were able to find our Merchant Marine. It’s a little bit bigger but the other ones we couldn’t do. So I’m proud to say that we have our military back that matches the seven [sic] monuments that Councilwoman Storey was able to get with the great job that we did in front of the library.”
Mayor Hokanson was referring to the stanchions that were part of the Roselle Park Memorial Veterans Library renovations that commemorated the five branches of the military and the Merchant Marines.
The board, which includes a photograph Company A 311th Infantry Division back from Word War I, is a permanent fixture of council chambers.