CLAYTON, NJ, Jan. 12-Two gold stars glitter at the top of an eight-foot honor-roll tablet which citizens of Clayton unveiled with special ceremonies here this afternoon in honor of the sixty-eight boys from the town and vicinity who served with the army or navy during the Great War.
The gold stars are opposite the names of Private Homer L. Ewan. Of Company B, Sixty-first infantry, A. E. F., who fell in action on the Verdun sector, and Seaman W. Stout Cheesman, who fell a victim of pneumonia while at a naval base in the south last fall. There are also five silver stars which shine from the tablet opposite the names of those who were wounded in the service. They are Private Wallace Abdill, Company E, 109th infantry; Private Frank L. Brock, Company E, 309th infantry, seventy-eighth division; Private Samuel Kelly, Company D; Eighth machine gun battalion; Private James S. Kelly, post hospital, Plattsburg, N.Y.; and Private Janvier Wolf, Company G, 309th infantry.
While today’s ceremonies were tinged with sadness because of the two heroes who will not return, there was much rejoicing over the fact that everyone of the other sixty-six boys are now confidently expected to return home. All of them have been heard from either directly or indirectly since the war ended and are reported to be well and in fine health, with the exception of the five who are recovering from wounds or gas.
Major J. Preston Potter presided at the unveiling of the permanent honor roll in front of the bank building this afternoon, starting at 3:45 o’ clock. United choirs of the local churches sang patriotic selections and there were prayer and speaking by the Rev C. B. Fisher and the Rev. William F. Weatherwax, pastors respectively, of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches. Some of the soldier boys who have been discharged from the service and have returned home unveiled the honor-roll tablet, which was covered with a large American flag.
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