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newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2008/0730/fr
Fire department to honor men killed in line of duty
Aug. 2 ceremony expected to include surviving daughter
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Five Freehold Borough firefighters who have died in the line of duty will be honored on Aug. 2.
A ceremony will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Freehold Fire Department, West Main Street, and then participants will walk to the Market Yard parking lot.
A memorial on the Mechanic Street driveway into the Market Yard honors the date of Aug. 2, 1933, when three Freehold firefighters were killed as they fought a fire at the Polchak Coat Factory on Mechanic Street, just outside the Market Yard.
The men who lost their lives as a result of the injuries they suffered that day were brothers Leroy Van Schoick and Lester Van Schoick, and Joseph Storey. All three men were volunteers who were fatally burned at the scene of the coat factory fire. A monument containing their names has been in place at the Market Yard site for several years.
On Aug. 2 two names will be added to that monument, John Felton and Thomas Landwehr, who also died in the line of duty while fighting fires in the borough.
Firefighters, borough officials, members of the deceased firefighters' families and residents will gather at the Freehold Fire Department at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 2, according to Carl N. Steinberg.
Steinberg, Nolan Higgins and Michael Burtt, all of whom are members of the Freehold Fire Department, comprised the department's Monument Dedication Committee.
"We will walk to the new monument in the Market Yard off Mechanic Street at 12:55," Steinberg said. "That is the exact time the call reporting the fire at the Polchak Coat Factory came into Box 36 at the Freehold Fire Department on Aug. 2, 75 years ago."
Borough Historian Kevin Coyne said he will speak about the meaning of the dedication ceremony and how it affects the town and its residents.
"There are several things that are very moving about this event," he said. "First of all, it honors the men who died for our town. Second, there are still people around who are related to them and who care about them and what they did for the town. In addition, it shows that the firefighters haven't forgotten them."
Coyne said the ceremony will bring a sense of continuity across all generations of firefighters and Freehold residents.
"I find the most moving aspect of this ceremony for everyone is that it shows that if you do something here, people will remember it; whereas, in other places, they may not. If you do it here, people remember," he said.
According to Steinberg, Leroy Van Schoick was 27 years old when he joined the Freehold Fire Department, Richardson Engine Company No. 2, on June 16, 1931. He died at St. Francis Hospital, Trenton, (now known as St. Francis Medical Center), at 5:45 p.m. Aug. 9, 1933, as a result of the burns he sustained fighting the fire at the coat factory on Mechanic Street.
Leroy's older brother, Lester, joined the Freehold Fire Department, Richardson Engine Company No. 2, on Dec. 28, 1925. He also died at St. Francis Hospital, Trenton, on Aug. 9, 1933, at 8:45 a.m. He was 33 years old at the time of his death, which occurred as result of the burns he sustained fighting the coat factory fire.
Steinberg said Joseph Storey was a member of the Freehold Fire Department, Engine Company No. 1. He joined the fire department on Nov. 16, 1926. He died of his injuries on Aug. 11, 1933, at Fitkin Memorial Hospital, Neptune, (now Jersey Shore University Medical Center).
"They gave the supreme sacrifice," Steinberg said of the men who lost their lives. "People don't realize what volunteers do for their community and the great civil service they perform."
Higgins said when the Van Schoick brothers and Storey responded to the fire at the coat factory they were placed in the front line.
"When the door was opened there was some type of flammable fluid that exploded and the flames came out through the door," Higgins said. "They were the first three holding the line outside when the flames came out."
Higgins noted the service of Felton and Landwehr, who will also be honored at the Aug. 2 ceremony.
According to Higgins, Felton died while responding to a fire in 1955. He had helped to fight a fire at the Belmont Hotel in Freehold in February 1933 and then helped fight the Polchak Coat Factory fire in August 1933.
Higgins said Landwehr died of a heart attack he suffered after fighting a fire in Freehold in 1977.
Higgins noted that several other men were injured while fighting the coat factory fire: Joseph Dugan, Chief Albert Patten, Harry Hulse, a spectator at the fire who later became a Freehold firefighter, Clarence Briggs and George Kelder.
Former Freehold Borough municipal clerk Vivian Taylor was the daughter of Joseph Storey. Taylor died in 2002 at the age of 79. Taylor was 10 years old when her father died.
Ida DeAngelis was only 5 years old when her father, Lester Van Schoick, died in the coat factory fire. She told the News Transcript this week that she remembers her mother telling her that her father, who worked at the Karagheusian rug mill, came home for lunch at about noon on the day of the fire, Aug. 2, 1933.
"He heard the fire siren while we were eating lunch at the kitchen table. He ran out and across the street. We lived on South Street at the time and the fire was very close to us," De Angelis recalled.
That was the last time she saw her father.
Lester Van Schoick, and his wife, Georgiana, were also the parents of Louise Nowland, of Trenton, who died 12 years ago, and Charles Van Schoick, of Brick Township, who died just over a year ago.
De Angelis is expected to attend the Aug. 2 ceremony. She will not walk from the firehouse to the Market Yard, but is expected to walk from the place she last saw her father to Mechanic Street, according to Coyne, who said the gesture will add even more meaning to the ceremony.
"They lived in an apartment over the Freehold Glass Company (South Street)," the borough historian said. "She will walk from that location to the site of the coat factory fire on Mechanic Street. She will make the same walk her father made the last time she saw him and the firemen will take the same trip the fire trucks took that day."
Fire department to honor men killed in line of duty
Aug. 2 ceremony expected to include surviving daughter
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer
FREEHOLD — Five Freehold Borough firefighters who have died in the line of duty will be honored on Aug. 2.
A ceremony will begin at 12:30 p.m. at the Freehold Fire Department, West Main Street, and then participants will walk to the Market Yard parking lot.
A memorial on the Mechanic Street driveway into the Market Yard honors the date of Aug. 2, 1933, when three Freehold firefighters were killed as they fought a fire at the Polchak Coat Factory on Mechanic Street, just outside the Market Yard.
The men who lost their lives as a result of the injuries they suffered that day were brothers Leroy Van Schoick and Lester Van Schoick, and Joseph Storey. All three men were volunteers who were fatally burned at the scene of the coat factory fire. A monument containing their names has been in place at the Market Yard site for several years.
On Aug. 2 two names will be added to that monument, John Felton and Thomas Landwehr, who also died in the line of duty while fighting fires in the borough.
Firefighters, borough officials, members of the deceased firefighters' families and residents will gather at the Freehold Fire Department at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 2, according to Carl N. Steinberg.
Steinberg, Nolan Higgins and Michael Burtt, all of whom are members of the Freehold Fire Department, comprised the department's Monument Dedication Committee.
"We will walk to the new monument in the Market Yard off Mechanic Street at 12:55," Steinberg said. "That is the exact time the call reporting the fire at the Polchak Coat Factory came into Box 36 at the Freehold Fire Department on Aug. 2, 75 years ago."
Borough Historian Kevin Coyne said he will speak about the meaning of the dedication ceremony and how it affects the town and its residents.
"There are several things that are very moving about this event," he said. "First of all, it honors the men who died for our town. Second, there are still people around who are related to them and who care about them and what they did for the town. In addition, it shows that the firefighters haven't forgotten them."
Coyne said the ceremony will bring a sense of continuity across all generations of firefighters and Freehold residents.
"I find the most moving aspect of this ceremony for everyone is that it shows that if you do something here, people will remember it; whereas, in other places, they may not. If you do it here, people remember," he said.
According to Steinberg, Leroy Van Schoick was 27 years old when he joined the Freehold Fire Department, Richardson Engine Company No. 2, on June 16, 1931. He died at St. Francis Hospital, Trenton, (now known as St. Francis Medical Center), at 5:45 p.m. Aug. 9, 1933, as a result of the burns he sustained fighting the fire at the coat factory on Mechanic Street.
Leroy's older brother, Lester, joined the Freehold Fire Department, Richardson Engine Company No. 2, on Dec. 28, 1925. He also died at St. Francis Hospital, Trenton, on Aug. 9, 1933, at 8:45 a.m. He was 33 years old at the time of his death, which occurred as result of the burns he sustained fighting the coat factory fire.
Steinberg said Joseph Storey was a member of the Freehold Fire Department, Engine Company No. 1. He joined the fire department on Nov. 16, 1926. He died of his injuries on Aug. 11, 1933, at Fitkin Memorial Hospital, Neptune, (now Jersey Shore University Medical Center).
"They gave the supreme sacrifice," Steinberg said of the men who lost their lives. "People don't realize what volunteers do for their community and the great civil service they perform."
Higgins said when the Van Schoick brothers and Storey responded to the fire at the coat factory they were placed in the front line.
"When the door was opened there was some type of flammable fluid that exploded and the flames came out through the door," Higgins said. "They were the first three holding the line outside when the flames came out."
Higgins noted the service of Felton and Landwehr, who will also be honored at the Aug. 2 ceremony.
According to Higgins, Felton died while responding to a fire in 1955. He had helped to fight a fire at the Belmont Hotel in Freehold in February 1933 and then helped fight the Polchak Coat Factory fire in August 1933.
Higgins said Landwehr died of a heart attack he suffered after fighting a fire in Freehold in 1977.
Higgins noted that several other men were injured while fighting the coat factory fire: Joseph Dugan, Chief Albert Patten, Harry Hulse, a spectator at the fire who later became a Freehold firefighter, Clarence Briggs and George Kelder.
Former Freehold Borough municipal clerk Vivian Taylor was the daughter of Joseph Storey. Taylor died in 2002 at the age of 79. Taylor was 10 years old when her father died.
Ida DeAngelis was only 5 years old when her father, Lester Van Schoick, died in the coat factory fire. She told the News Transcript this week that she remembers her mother telling her that her father, who worked at the Karagheusian rug mill, came home for lunch at about noon on the day of the fire, Aug. 2, 1933.
"He heard the fire siren while we were eating lunch at the kitchen table. He ran out and across the street. We lived on South Street at the time and the fire was very close to us," De Angelis recalled.
That was the last time she saw her father.
Lester Van Schoick, and his wife, Georgiana, were also the parents of Louise Nowland, of Trenton, who died 12 years ago, and Charles Van Schoick, of Brick Township, who died just over a year ago.
De Angelis is expected to attend the Aug. 2 ceremony. She will not walk from the firehouse to the Market Yard, but is expected to walk from the place she last saw her father to Mechanic Street, according to Coyne, who said the gesture will add even more meaning to the ceremony.
"They lived in an apartment over the Freehold Glass Company (South Street)," the borough historian said. "She will walk from that location to the site of the coat factory fire on Mechanic Street. She will make the same walk her father made the last time she saw him and the firemen will take the same trip the fire trucks took that day."