Robert Dembowski, Jr. Memorial Service May 28,
2007
Good
morning everyone, my name is Pete Palestina and I am Chairman of the
Northampton Township Board of Supervisors and with me by my side are my
fellow Supervisors George Komelasky, Vincent Deon, John Long and Jim
Kinney.
About
15 minutes ago we had our traditional annual Memorial Day Flag Raising
ceremony in front of the township building and we then marched here for this
gathering in memory of Army PFC Robert Dembowski, Jr.
This is very difficult
for me because I never anticipated having to speak about one of our
Northampton Patriots under these circumstances. And maybe that’s because I
just never wanted to think about that possibility. I didn’t know Bob, Jr.
personally, in fact I didn’t even know about Bobby until a couple of weeks
ago when his Mom Fran called me about having Bobby represented in our
Patriot’s Flag Program. And when that happens, you become a member of my 2nd
family and that of my fellow Supervisors. So whether we know one of these
Patriots for one minute or one decade, you are a member of our family. We
care about them, love them, pray for them, and hope the good Lord watches
over them just as we would our own family. Let me tell you why that is and
why this very place you stand on is appropriate for this particular
ceremony.
In
early April 2003 I was contacted by Bernadette Heenan, who told me that a
group of moms and wives, referred to as “Families of our Northampton
Patriots”, had gotten together and formed a kind of support group.
Bernadette asked about the possibility of having some type of recognition
ceremony for these troops and invited me to a meeting with several moms and
wives at her house in order to discuss it further. At the time, all we had
was an anonymous benefactor who would purchase ceremonial flags and an
inspiration to do something to honor our brave Northampton servicemen and
women involved in Iraqi Freedom. At the time, the war was going on full
throttle, and with all the protests against the war being highlighted by the
media, there was a desire to have a public display supporting and honoring
these brave people. They thought a small ceremony at our Township’s
“Commons” would be a nice way to go and were looking for ideas to make it
work. They humbly asked if the Supervisors would support them and allow the
use of the Commons for the ceremony.
I was touched at that
meeting. They were concerned about their loved ones in harms way, and yet
the words of pride and patriotism flowing from their mouths nearly left me
in tears. We came up with the idea of different flags representing the
branch of the military served by each Patriot and how to recruit information
to identify as many Northampton residents serving in Iraqi Freedom as
possible. The flags, with a yellow streamer identifying the Patriot, would
be placed in the ground of the Commons and stay until the person returns, at
which time the flag will be given to him or her as a keepsake and token of
appreciation for their patriotic service in protecting our country and
liberating Iraq.
I took the idea back to my Board, asked if they would
support this plan, they did so enthusiastically, and there we were, right
here on April 23, 2003. And I remember at the time many people saying “what
better place to have this type of ceremony than at a small park that the
Township has built and dedicated to all those Northampton residents who
volunteered and served. At that ceremony, we paid tribute to 24 servicemen
and women who were serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Later that year, when the weather was getting harsh
and winter approaching we knew that the flags would be taking a beating from
the elements. It was decided to take the flags indoors for protection and
place them in a flag display case made by a retired carpenter in our public
meeting room. That display was able to hold 36 flags and as time progressed
and the war continued we had need for a larger display and a new one was
made and donated last year. Many of our soldiers returned and their flag
was presented to them at either our public meetings or in some cases we went
to their homes while they were on leave to welcome them home and make the
presentation.
At of the conclusion of last Wednesday’s Supervisors
meeting there were 46 flags in the display, 14 were military flags and the
remaining 32 were the American flag, as the military flags had been retuned
to their represented owner. One of those military flags was placed in the
display last Wednesday, May 23rd at our Supervisors meeting. That Army flag
representing Bob Dembowski, Jr. was placed in the display as I escorted his
parents Fran and Bob Dembowski to do the honors. This was right after we
welcomed back 5 other Northampton soldiers by returning their military flags
to them as we replaced their flags with an American flag. Little did we
know that the next day, within hours of that presentation, we would learn
that we lost our first Northampton Patriot, Bobby Dembowski.
We were all shocked and grief stricken by the news
which was confirmed to us late Thursday evening. I along with Supervisor
George Komelasky paid our respects to the family early Friday morning and
asked what they would like us to do for them and Bobby. Fran told us how
much Bobby loved this small park and requested that we could hold some type
of ceremony here. We said that we would try to make that happen and try to
tie it in to Memorial Day. Because Bobby was killed, literally hours after
placing his military flag at Wednesday’s meeting, I was concerned how they
may react to the timing. Fran said that just before Wednesday’s ceremony,
Bobby, when told of the flag presentation for him and that mom and dad were
about to leave for the meeting, said “gee they are going to do that for me?
And he was so pleased and honored by this”. Fran assured me that she had no
regrets for having that ceremony just hours before Bobby’s death, and that
she was so pleased that it was done, because her son was happy about it and
that may have been in his final thoughts before his young life was taken
away.
As I indicated earlier, I didn’t know that much about
Bobby, but we all sure found out a lot about him in the last few days. A
young man who was proud to be an American and who loved his Country with a
passion. He joined the Army in January 2006 and was the recipient of the
Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was a graduate of Council Rock High North
and the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology. He was a member of the
Student Advisory Board at Council Rock North and often reported to the
School Directors and the Council Rock Community on events and
accomplishments at MBIT. He was an outgoing, enthusiastic student who never
failed to take the opportunity to express his pride in America. One of
Bobby’s greatest legacies to Council Rock was his speech to Veterans of
World War II at the Chancellor Center in May 2005 when Council Rock was
dedicating a World War II memorial in memory of those from our community who
lost their lives serving our Country. As a student who had just made a
commitment to serving his Country, Bobby spoke to an audience of over 200
veterans, public officials and members of our community about service,
courage and commitment. On this Memorial Day, we recognize that Bobby’s
compassion for serving our military has brought him to the ultimate
sacrifice in serving our Country.
(Holding
Bobby’s flag) This is the Army flag we placed for Bobby Dembowski at
Wednesday’s meeting. Last night, at the request of Mom Fran and dad Bob,
Sr., we privately went to the Township building where we took this flag out
of the display and replaced it with an American flag that has a black ribbon
streamer on it with Bobby’s name. And now you know what Northampton’s
Patriot flag
program
is all about and how much it means to us, the families and the soldiers it
represents. This is not the way I wanted to return a flag as Bobby didn’t
return home safe and sound, but this flag belongs to him and now I’m going
to give it to Fran and Bob .
Fran
Dembowski addresses the gathering reading the following
words from a June 2005 speech
that her son gave to a group of Veterans at the Chancellor Center.
