Newly ranked Eagle Scout Colin Fields received recognition and was thanked by Town of New Windsor officials and residents for his work and dedication to the remembrance and preservation of veterans and their grave markers.

A life-long resident of New Windsor, Fields first joined Cub Scouts in the third grade and is currently a member of Boy Scout Troop 4064. Fields is a senior this year at Newburgh Free Academy [NFA].

Following his graduation from NFA this year, Fields will be attending the State University of New York at Albany for Computer and Electrical Engineering.

Several weeks ago, Councilwoman Eve Lincoln and Councilwoman Sylvia Santiago had previously attended Field’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony. During the town meeting on June 1, both board members presented to Fields an official Certificate of Recognition on behalf of the town for his work. “It’s always nice to have your accomplishments acknowledged,” said Fields.

According to Fields, when the time came to prepare for his Eagle Scout project last year, Fields said he went to New Windsor Recreation Director Matthew Veronesi to ask and see if there were any projects that he could take on. Fields said he had previously worked with Veronesi on several town projects in the past.

Originally, Fields had found a project that required repairing some shelves and fixing up an area for a local food pantry. However, one of the local churches took on the project.

Searching for a new project to undertake, Fields was told by Veronesi that Woodlawn Cemetery, located along Route 94, had come under his ownership.

Veronesi said to Fields that he was working on the creation of a digital database for the various graves through the assistance of a grant that had been received. It was then that Fields inquired about the project and the database from Veronesi and from there, he was assigned several sections of the cemetery to clean and record the grave markers specifically of veterans that needed identifying.

During the weekend of June 5-6, 2021, Fields and a team of volunteers cleaned and photographed over 400 veteran grave markers. They included and recorded their names into the digital database on a spreadsheet that Veronesi will be able to use for the website. “I think in total, it was like almost 200 man hours [of work] and I had like 30 plus people that I had to like lead and help with the project,” said Fields.

Reflecting on his journey to Eagle Scout, Fields shared that without his family support, he would not be where he is today and is grateful that they kept pushing him each day. He also thanked the additional volunteers and donors who made this project all possible whether that be through donations or spending their time in marking and cleaning the cemetery.

During the last few weeks, New Windsor has since celebrated Memorial Day. While working on this project and reflecting on this significant day, Fields said he was thanked for the work he had done in helping to identify veterans who have passed on. “It was nice to see that like my project you know was helping other people and helping the community,” said Fields.