Orange County Veterans Memorial Day ceremony Set for Sept. 27

A special ceremony will be held on Friday, September 27, at 10 a.m. by Orange County’s Veterans Service Agency (VSA) to honor 40 local heroes.

“On September 29, during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line, one of the most famous engagements during World War I, 40 county residents lost their lives,” said Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus in an announcement. “This ceremony is a fitting tribute to these local heroes and the sacrifices they made.”

Orange County Veterans Memorial Day will be held at the County’s Veterans Memorial Cemetery, located at 111 Craigville Road in Goshen. The ceremony is open to the public and will include the unveiling of a new POW-MIA memorial monument.

”Each year in late September we are reminded of the enormous sacrifices made by Orange County veterans serving their country,” said VSA Director Christian Farrell. “It’s up to us to always remember the 40 soldiers we lost on that day: September 29, 1918. This year our ceremony will include a walk over to a beautiful, new monument on the grounds of the Orange County Veterans Memorial Cemetery that pays respect to so many others who never made it home.”

The 40 Orange County residents served in Companies E and L of the 107th Regiment of the 27th Division and perished during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line in northern France.

On September 29, 1918, after a 56-hour attack, allied forces breached the Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I. The Hindenburg Line was a heavily fortified zone running several miles behind the active front between the north coast of France and Belgium. By September 1918, the Hindenburg Line consisted of six defensive lines approximately 6,000 yards deep, equipped with lengths of barbed wire, concrete emplacements, and firing positions.

Breaking through the Hindenburg Line helped the U.S. and its allies win World War I, which ended on November 11, 1918.