War Memorial
Written by Sarah Alden, narrated by Sarah Alden, Cooperstown Museum Studies Graduate Program, SUNY Oneonta. Researched 2023.
The Little Falls War Memorial, featuring artwork made by local artist Marc Verri, stands at the former site of the Honor Roll Monument.
The monument was dedicated in 2010 honoring all Little Falls military veterans who served their country from World War I to the present.
Hundreds of men from Little Falls served in the 20th and 21st centuries, and many men died in the line of duty. During WWI, twenty-four men passed away between the years of 1917 and 1919, many of the Spanish flu. Over the course of WWII, fifty-seven of the thousands of deaths were Little Falls residents.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the Cold War conflicts brought on the deaths of a number of local young men. Five Little Falls Soldiers died during the Korean War, and their names are memorialized on one of the four stones erected here. Staff Sargent Joseph “Stash” Zawtocki and Corporal Donnie Coffin died during the Vietnam War. Both names appear on one of the monument stones.
The last stone is in honor of the Mohawk Valley Combat Nurses, the women who dedicated themselves to saving countless lives during these times of war.
