Town of Tonawanda – Today, Sept. 15, 2022, New York State Sen. Sean Ryan and New York State Assemblyman Bill Conrad announced $54,000 in funding they secured this year for a new monument to be located on Elmlawn Memorial Park’s Field of Honor.

The Field of Honor is a section of the cemetery dedicated to veterans of the U.S. military. An existing memorial structure there is more than 80 years old. The age and deteriorating condition of that concrete structure have necessitated its replacement.

The Elmlawn Memorial Park Foundation has collected $13,600 of the expected, $68,000 cost of the replacement monument, with $10,700 coming in the form of a donation from Buffalo-based memorial designer and builder Leon Komm & Son, and $2,900 pledged toward labor and long-term maintenance by Elmlawn Memorial Park and the American Legion’s Milton J. Brounshidle Post 205, also in the Town of Tonawanda.

Ryan and Conrad have each secured $27,000 in state grant money to cover the remaining cost of the new Field of Honor memorial project.

The project includes removal of the existing structure, site preparation, installation of the new memorial, restoration of the surrounding grounds, and replacement of the memorial plaques that circle the current monument. (These plaques are not grave markers. The site work and monument installation will not disturb any burial sites.)

The new monument will be larger, at 11 feet in diameter and 15 feet tall, and built of mocha granite. A stainless-steel dome featuring a decorative floral design will rest atop six round, fluted columns, connected toward the base with granite ledges for seating and inscriptions. (See below photos of the current and planned monuments.)

A formal dedication of the new memorial and refurbished site is slated for Veterans Day 2022.

State Sen. Sean Ryan said, “Elmlawn Memorial Park’s Field of Honor is a wonderful tribute to our country’s fallen veterans. Thank you to my colleague Assemblyman Bill Conrad and the generous donors who helped make possible this enhancement to an already beautiful memorial.”

Assemblyman Bill Conrad said, “It is my distinct honor to offer support to our veterans, whose sacrifices through the generations have restored comfort in areas of need across the globe, and maintained the home front peace and safety we as Americans so deeply cherish. We have a duty to honor them upon their return to civilian life, and we have a duty to honor them in death, with final resting places befitting of their heroism. I commend Elmlawn Memorial Park and donor Leon Komm & Son Monument Co., the Elmlawn Memorial Park Foundation and the Brounshidle Post for their tireless commitment to this project on the Field of Honor, a beautiful tribute to their late comrades, and I thank Senator Ryan for his collaboration. This new monument will further enhance the dignity and serenity of the site for visitors, most especially for veterans’ surviving loved ones.”

Elmlawn Memorial Park President Mike Austin said, “We are thrilled that Senator Ryan and Assemblyman Conrad were able to partner with us for this lasting memorial and tribute to the veterans of Western New York. This new feature will keep alive Elmlawn’s 110-year tradition of honoring the men and women serving now and in the past, as we give our highest appreciation to our military, and the freedoms that they have helped ensure for all of us.”

Elmlawn Memorial Park Foundation Chair Richard Adams said, “The Elmlawn Memorial Park Board of Directors created our Foundation in 2015 to solicit gifts, bequests and grants to fund improvements to the cemetery for the benefit of our served families and the community. Funding the replacement of our Veterans Field of Honor Memorial through the efforts of our New York State Senator Ryan and Assemblyman Conrad is a dramatic improvement for our cemetery and an example of our success in fulfilling our mission.”

American Legion Brounshidle Post Commander Ted Balbierz said, “We have a solemn obligation to recognize the sacrifices made by all veterans and their families. Today’s investment in this granite memorial ensures that for generations to come, we shall never forget. We thank Senator Ryan and Assemblyman Conrad for helping make it possible.”