Although the average age of Mumford’s Hickey - O’Donnell - Yahn Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6591 membership is close to the eighty-year mark, the group is far from inactive. They hold their monthly meetings in the basement of the First United Presbyterian Church in Mumford, which has an elevator for handicapped access. All 23 members are veterans of World War II, with five remaining 1946 Charter Members; Don Baldeck, Stanley Lyttle and Allen Bennem from the Mumford area plus Bill Callan and Glen O’Donnell, who now reside in Florida.In 2001 the post received a $5000 grant from the NY Veterans Administration. Without a post building that needed upkeep, they looked for other areas in the community that needed improvements. This grant was spent on repairs to the flagpole at Freeman Park, purchasing combination placards and flag holders for veteran’s graves and stocking up on grave marker flags for annual distribution in May. For decades now, the VFW Post 6591 members have placed flags on veteran’s plots prior to Memorial Day at the Mumford Rural Cemetery. Then in 2002, the Mumford post received another $5000 grant from the VA. Following a few hours of brainstorming, Stan Lyttle and Don Baldeck spearheaded a search for all the names of veterans buried in the Mumford cemetery, knowing that they probably missed a few graves on Memorial Day. After completing an exhausting search, they took their list of 366 names to Budget Signs in Rochester to have an Honor Roll Wall created. The west wall of the Mumford Community Building is now the home of the new Honor Roll of veterans who served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and the Vietnam War, along with veterans who served during peacetime. "The Honor Roll has space allotted to list additional names," said Vice-Commander Lyttle. "We call the sign company and they make a template of the newly deceased name, then we can pick up the template and add the name ourselves." Next on the agenda for this fine group of gentlemen is to have a sign added adjacent to the Honor Roll for VFW Post 6591 members only. They are also working on ideas to honor the posts’ namesakes, Gerald Hickey, James O’Donnell and William Yahn. These three Mumford area World War II soldiers were either killed in action or missing in action, and never made it home to the Mumford Rural Cemetery. The post had planned a formal dedication service of the Honor Roll on Veterans Day but the members have decided to postpone the ceremony until spring.
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Cemetery Honor Roll Dedication Ceremony
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