In 2009 Marlboro resident Charley Alonge decided that he would find a way to honor his childhood friend, LCPL William J. Partington, who was killed in action in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam on March 2, 1970. In his research, Alonge discovered that Partington died as a result of multiple missile wounds from a hostile explosive device while on a road mine sweep. He had just turned 21.

Alonge thought that placing a sign just above or beside a roadway that had meaning to the fallen soldier’s family would be a fitting tribute. In Partington’s case, the intersection of Western Avenue and Lattintown Road was named in his honor.

“I knew him, I went to his funeral, the first one I ever went to, and was best friends with his brother and with him,” Alonge said. “He helped me work on my car when I was 16 years old.”

Alonge received support to erect the signs from then Marlborough and Lloyd Supervisors Al Lanzetta and Ray Costantino. He said his Rolling Thunder chapter provided the signs in the beginning.

In the ensuing years, time and the weather have taken their toll and recently he had new ones made and put up, with the help of his brother John, who is the Marlborough Highway Superintendent.

“Charley called me and said the signs look terrible. They’re getting faded and I said let’s see if we can make them and I’ll buy the signs out of my highway budget,” he said. “The first ones were painted and the new ones are decals and we’re hoping they last a lot longer.”

Charley said he was inspired to initiate the sign program after the late State Senator William Larkin named a portion of Route 9W in honor of the 86th Blackhawk Infantry Division that was active during WW I and WW II. Charley’s program started on Main Street and has been embraced throughout Ulster County and eventually across the United States.

A sign on the side of Charley’s truck contains all the names of those killed in action in the Hudson Valley area: LCPL William J. Partington, Capt. Robert Bull II; Sgt. Eugene Williams; SPC. Doran Chan; Cpl. Michael K. Oremus; Cpl. Steve Vahaviolos; 1st Lt. Mark Dooley; Sgt. Jonathan Cadavero; 1st Lt. Louis Allen; ET2 Christopher W. DeAngelis; Sgt. Kenneth Von Ronn; Sgt. Shawn Farrell II; Cpl. Joseph Tremblay; LCDR Nicholas Brooks; CW2 Danny Prial and PVT. Douglas Cordo.

Alonge hopes his sign program will remind the public to never forget the last full measure that our fallen Veterans have given to keep us a free nation.

“They’ll never be forgotten and that was the whole thing,” he said. “When I’m gone I hope they will still be here.”