Clarke White American Legion Auxiliary Unit takes top awards

Donna Kropp, left, president, and Sue Britton, Community Service chairwoman of the Clarke White Unit 589 American Legion Auxiliary, display their awards.

RENSSELAERVILLE — The Clarke White Unit 589 of the American Legion Auxiliary in Rensselaerville has earned both State (Department) and National recognition for its efforts with the Finding the New York Faces project.

The project was initiated in March 2017 following a trip to Washington, D.C. by Sue Britton, Community Service chairwoman for the unit, when she began the project to find missing photos of all those who enlisted from New York and were killed during the Vietnam War.

The names of the 58,315 killed are etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.; however the website associated with the wall shows names, photos, biographies, and remembrances of those named. Nationwide, only 1,856 remain without a photo.

At inception, Britton learned that 1,176 New York veterans were missing photos. She began the project by finding those within Albany County and then went on to surrounding counties and eventually began promoting the project across New York State. Her work gained national recognition and several other states followed suit, trying to locate missing photos.

Since inception, 592 missing New Yorkers’ photos have been located. There are still, however, 584 missing, so the state of New York comprises 32 percent of those still missing nationwide. Most of those remaining, 443, had enlisted in New York County.

To check and see if you might be able to assist with locating a missing photo, go to: www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces. Then enter NY in the “state” box, click the “does not have photo” box, and hit “submit.”

Britton entered her project work and recently was awarded the Marion Authenrith Award for the Department of New York, which went to “the Unit initiating and completing the most outstanding community service program during the year.”  She also submitted her work as a national entry and received the “Most Outstanding Unit Community Service Program Award by a Unit in the Eastern Division.”

More Community news

  • Seven Girl Scouts from Guilderland’s Troop 1760 trekked to the nation’s capital where they toured the White House; spoke with Congressman Paul Tonko; and observed the House of Representatives and the Senate in session where they saw both their congressman, Tonko, and senator, Chuck Schumer, cast votes.

The Altamont Enterprise is focused on hyper-local, high-quality journalism. We produce free election guides, curate readers' opinion pieces, and engage with important local issues. Subscriptions open full access to our work and make it possible.