Chatham Veterans Honored During Military Appreciation Month

CHATHAM, NJ — A group of Chatham veterans were presented with an official proclamation designating the month of May as Military Appreciation Month during the borough council meeting on May 8.

Captain Tom Salvas, who previously served in the United States Air Force, was among those honored with the proclamation. Salvas is now assisting with the "Veterans Project" for the Library of the Chathams, which involves memorializing first-hand accounts of Chatham veterans.

According to Andy Hollander, president of the board of trustees for the library, Salvas was the driving force behind the project.

"The library is so honored to be able to be a place where we can record the service and the sacrifice of our veterans," Hollander said. "What better place do we have than a free public library to affirm and proclaim how important service and sacrifice are to the country and to the community?"

The Veterans Project is an initiative of the Library of the Chathams that seeks to collect, archive, and make available to the public audio, video, and written personal histories and testimonials of veterans who are or were residents of Chatham Borough and Chatham Township.

The project entails the voluntary submission of audio or video recordings of veterans' first-person accounts as well as oral histories provided by Armed Forces members who served or died as a result of their service during a period of war.

Hollander said that almost all of the seven veterans honored at the meeting had taken part in the project and been interviewed and filmed by Salvas.

"We really appreciate your initiative to honor and recognize Military Appreciation Month this year; not a lot of towns actually do that. The history project has been really a revelation for me. Having done seven video interviews and what comes out, and what all the interviewees will say is that, these are stories; these are personal stories," Salvas said.

All interviews done for the Veterans Project can be watched here.

Other veterans honored at the council meeting included Rick Loock, a staff sergeant who served in Vietnam; Joel Boroff, a member of the United States Army who served in Vietnam; Justin Strickland, a captain in the United States Army in Iraq; John Crouthamel, a first lieutenant in the United States Army in Vietnam; and Jack Conlan, a member of the United States Marine Corps.