Norwalk VFW Post 603 embellishes WWI cannon with plaque, seeks to preserve it

Updated, 10:35 a.m.: Copy edits, correction

NORWALK, Conn. – When you walk by the new plaque on the “French cannon” in the Town Green, perhaps you will think of the sacrifices made by the people whose names are on it.

So said Pete Torrano of the Mulvoy-Tarlov-Aquino VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) Post 603 on Friday, as he led a dedication ceremony and handed over a $20,000 check to First Taxing District Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Marija Bryant, money earmarked for the historic cannon’s maintenance.

Video by Harold Cobin at end of story

“Today we are commemorating the gift of the VFW Post 603 of the cannon… by unveiling a plaque, to give credit where credit is due,” Bryant said. “The cannon could have been scrapped if not for you all stepping up. It’s appropriate that we unveil a permanent plaque to commemorate your gift. It’s also fitting that we hold it on Pearl Harbor Day, a day that led to America once again sending people, sending military, in to fight for freedom.”

The 1877 DeBange 155mm cannon saw service during World War I, in Verdun, and was gifted to Norwalk by France in 1921, as part of a campaign to influence American foreign policy, a handout written by Tod Bryant said.  Post 603 paid for its transportation from a port on the Hudson River.

The 1921 dedication of the cannon attracted 10,000 spectators and included a military parade with about 1,500 veterans – from three wars – in its ranks, Bryant wrote. French ambassador Maurice Casenave presented the artillery piece Norwalk resident General Russell Frost spoke of the need to support France, he said.

The cannon was placed on a rectangular granite base in the Green in 1922 but in 1950 the Green was split in two when Wall Street was extended through its center, right where the base was, and a controversy blossomed about where to put it next, he wrote, explaining that 100s of veterans protested a plan to move it to a less central park because they thought it should be in a more visible location, while other citizens called the cannon “ugly.”

“One Norwalker even denounced it in a letter to the editor as ‘a bloody object, suggestive of things that are too terrible to be constantly in mind,’” Bryant wrote.

While the VFW suggested a compromise of moving the base and its plaques to the Town Green and the cannon to Veterans Memorial Park, the Common Council eventually had it moved to Norwalk Police Headquarters, he said.

“At this point Post 603 began negotiating with the City and the Post eventually won ownership of the cannon,” Bryant wrote.

It was displayed next to the VFW building at North Avenue and High Street from 1952 to 2009, when it was donated to the First Taxing District, which had it restored and prepared for outdoor display, he said.

“It was produced in 1881 and to the best of our knowledge, this may be the last cannon of its type in existence,” Torrano said. “This represents not just World War I but all of the conflicts in which all of the members of the VFW and the American Legion and those that didn’t serve in combat, this represents everything that we have done.  This was given to us at a time when the world was a war and we had to preserve peace and we had to preserve democracy around the world.”

Post 603 asked the First Taxing District if it could put a small marble monument on the Green to dedicate the cannon to the VFW and the First Taxing District, but instead it was decided to install a new plaque, Torrano said.

“We are hoping now that (the cannon) stays here forever,” he said. “…We are proud as veterans that we can do this for the City of Norwalk and we are really thankful for everything the City of Norwalk has done for us.”