Work honoring buried State Troopers is appreciated

To the Editor:

Thanks for a great story on Corporal Mattice’s grave. [July 25, 2013: “Cold stone can comfort when words are true,” online at www.AltamontEnterprise.com, tells of the first New York State Trooper killed by gunfire in the line of duty; Harold C. Mattice was buried in Berne in 1923.]

I doubt that Kevin Kailbourne told you or that you have any idea how hard he worked on that grave-marker project.  He went nationwide looking for the graves and families of New York State Troopers.

There is only one New York State Trooper (retired) who is buried in Oklahoma. The only one. Kailbourne found that grave, did the legwork, then contacted the only living NYS Trooper who resides in Oklahoma — me — and got the grave marker done and the flag placed each year.

And that’s just one grave he did all that work on.  But that deceased Trooper buried in Tulsa, Oklahoma has a marker on his grave today and a new flag every year.  Now, that’s dedication.

Also for your information: When your article was spread by e-mail to the retired Troopers, one immediately said, “We can’t have this” and offered his $100 toward a fund to get the grave appropriately marked. So I think you will see almost immediate progress at that grave.  

Walter Schumacher
Clinton, Oklahoma

Editor’s note: Walter Schumacher lives 200 miles away from the grave of the New York State Trooper buried in Oklahoma, where he goes to place a flag every year. He said he guesses the other retired Troopers moved to Florida, not Oklahoma.

 

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