"It's Bobby's park" as village dedicates Lakefront Park plaque
The Village of Cooperstown marked Memorial Day as did villages, towns, and cities across the country – a parade up Main Street, a tribute to the fallen men and women who gave their lives in battle to protect freedom for all Americans.
Some 200 village residents, area veterans, family, and friends gathered Monday afternoon, though, in a special, somber, and emotional ceremony dedicating a plaque in Cooperstown’s Lakefront Park to the memory of PFC Robert W. Atwell, a 1966 graduate of Cooperstown High School who was killed in action in Vietnam on March 21, 1968. 54 years after his death, the memories were still sharp as his sister Neal Atwell Franklin addressed the crowd.
“The knock on the door came on March 21, 1968 and time stopped for our family,” she said, recounting the events surrounding her brother’s death and the return of PFC Atwell’s body to Cooperstown for a rare Sunday funeral on March 31. She thanked village residents, the Village Board of Trustees, and Cooperstown resident Wayne Moakler for the honor – a plaque placed permanently in front of the flagpole in the beautiful lakeside park.
