“It’s Bobby’s park” as village dedicates Lakefront Park plaque

The Village of Cooperstown marked Memorial Day as did villages, towns, and cities across the country – a parade up Main Street, a tribute to the fallen men and women who gave their lives in battle to protect freedom for all Americans.

Some 200 village residents, area veterans, family, and friends gathered Monday afternoon, though, in a special, somber, and emotional ceremony dedicating a plaque in Cooperstown’s Lakefront Park to the memory of PFC Robert W. Atwell, a 1966 graduate of Cooperstown High School who was killed in action in Vietnam on March 21, 1968. 54 years after his death, the memories were still sharp as his sister Neal Atwell Franklin addressed the crowd.

“The knock on the door came on March 21, 1968 and time stopped for our family,” she said, recounting the events surrounding her brother’s death and the return of PFC Atwell’s body to Cooperstown for a rare Sunday funeral on March 31. She thanked village residents, the Village Board of Trustees, and Cooperstown resident Wayne Moakler for the honor – a plaque placed permanently in front of the flagpole in the beautiful lakeside park.

Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh delivered an emotional remembrance of PFC Atwell and the impact his death had and continues to have on the village. The Atwell family, she said, had deep roots in Cooperstown – Atwell Road, home to Bassett Hospital, is named after PFC Atwell’s paternal grandfather, Dr. Floyd Atwell. PFC Atwell’s father, Robert, was a World War II veteran and longtime Otsego County Clerk; his mother, Mabel, was a teacher at Cooperstown Central High School.

“PFC Robert W. Atwell was only 20 years old when he was killed on March 21, 1968,” she said. “20 is so incredibly young. But residents who were half that age in 1968 can tell you where they were when they heard the news of his death and of its profound impact on our community.”

“We would learn that at the time of his death he was a member of the First Airborne Battalion of the 321^st Artillery of the 101^st Airborne Division, and was defending the battery during a mortar and ground attack,” she said. “His commanding officer wrote that in that attack, the perimeter wire had been breached but that Bobby’s heroic actions stopped the attackers before they were inside the battery position. He was killed by automatic weapons fire.”

“His death left a profound hole in his family and our community and remains with our collective memory to this day,” she said.

VFW Commander Floyd Bourne told the audience that as a child, he grew up fishing from the shore at Lakefront Park and felt a certain amount of ‘personal ownership’ of the public space.

“Today we know whose park this is,” he said, his voice breaking. “It’s Bobby’s park.”

Commander Bourne was among the dignitaries who addressed the crowd immediately following the village’s parade, as well, reviewing briefly the history of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C., and commenting on the dedication of those soldiers who volunteer and are chosen to guard it.

“The Honor Guard never stops,” he said. “A hurricane, a blizzard, they walked their post. If you haven’t been there, go there; it’s a place of honor.”

Mayor Tillapaugh called the names of PFC Atwell, Sgt. John Winslow, Cooperstown Central Class of 1966, who died in Vietnam in 1969, and Sgt. Kevin Coulman, CCS Class of 1974, who died in Lebanon in 1983 during the U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut.

“Whether the names of our fallen soldiers are on a stone memorial or engraved on our hearts, let us on this national day of remembrance reflect on their supreme sacrifice which allows us to safely stand here today as free and proud Americans,” she said.