BELMAR — Belmar First Aid Squad will be honored during a monument dedication ceremony at Monument Row, 12th Avenue and Main Street, on Saturday, June 14, at 9:30 a.m.
Following the dedication ceremony, the public will be invited to a reception hosted by the Belmar Historical Society (BHS) at the historic Union Fire House (Ninth Avenue and E Street), where archival material from the BHS will be on display. The BHS emphasized that former first aid squad members and their families are especially welcome to attend.
Belmar First Aid Squad, founded in 1927 as the first volunteer first aid and rescue squad in the country, disbanded in 2021 after nearly a century of community service, and passed the reins for emergency response in the borough to the Belmar EMS.
“Volunteers were getting low, call volumes were getting higher,” Joe Walsh, who was a member of the Belmar First Aid Squad from April 1974 until its closure, said of the disbandment. “It was sort of…carrying the torch to another era.”
The first aid squad monument at Monument Row will join the veteran’s memorial and the fireman’s memorial in their place of honor on Main Street. The new addition will serve as a memorial to the squad affectionately referred to as “The Granddaddy of First Aid.”
“What we wanted this monument to do is to have some kind of remembrance of where EMS got its start and not forget our foundations that we have here,” Walsh said. “This memorial is a long time coming – they’ve had a fireman’s memorial, police memorial, but really the Belmar First Aid never had a memorial, and I think this is really going to tie them up so people never forget them. Their legacy will live on and I just like that idea – it’s very important to me.”
“It’s an honor (to host the reception), absolute honor,” Naomi Reissner, BHS trustee, said. “It’s been four years since they’ve disbanded and this boulder and this monument (have) been in the works for some time. They’re gathering all the lifetime members together for the dedication on Saturday and we just are delighted that we can honor them.”
Reissner said that the reception will have several tables of memorabilia from Belmar First Aid Squad that was donated to the BHS in light of its disbandment, including records, photographs and newspaper articles. “We’re going to put a display case of that together,” she said.
Guests at the reception will also receive a giveaway from the BHS.
“It should be really nice and I think it (the dedication ceremony) is a wonderful tribute to this organization that for 93 years volunteered their service and just gave up so much of their time,” Reissner said. “…They just really deserve to be honored and we’re just delighted to be involved with it.”
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