Hampton Bays Flagpole Dedicated To Local Soldier Who Died In 1969

The Hampton Bays Board of Education joined with members of American Legion Hand-Aldrich Post 924 this month to dedicate the elementary school’s new flagpole—which was replaced after the original one snapped during a snowstorm last winter—to a Vietnam War veteran and Hampton Bays native, the late John Victor Couture.

At the most recent board meeting on January 9, Christopher Ramos, commander of Post 924, presented Superintendent Lars Clemensen with a plaque to add to the flagpole. Mr. Clemensen noted that it plays an important role in the community: Every month during the school year, a local veteran is honored there with a flag-raising ceremony, organized by the school district.

“John Couture went to school in that building,” Mr. Clemensen said of the elementary school, which is where kindergarten through 12th grade was taught until 1971, when the high school was built. The monthly flag ceremony is “an opportunity for students to hear, meet, touch and feel a story about a local hero,” he continued. “It’s that sort of ‘wow’ moment that these are real people who have done real things.”

Mr. Ramos agreed. “It brings awareness to the children of our community,” he said, referring to the elementary school’s monthly flag-raising ceremonies. “It shows the children, it teaches them. Instead of reading from a textbook, they see it right before their eyes.”

Though the students can’t honor Mr. Couture in person—he died at the age of 22 of wounds suffered in battle in 1969—his years of service, as well as his two Purple Hearts, and Bronze Star Medal, have earned him the title of hero, according to Terri Gann, a former neighborhood friend who shared memories of Mr. Couture this week.

“He was a hero in everyday life,” Ms. Gann said, remembering the day he came into her social studies class at the Hampton Bays High School in 1968 to announce that he was being deployed to Vietnam. “I want to be sure that people know how special he was. Even though he’s deceased it’s like he’s sitting with us still.”

“There are a lot of folks in the community that remember John,” Mr. Clemensen added. “John Victor Couture is now memorialized as a Hampton Bays hero.”