By Pete DeMola Published July 3, 2019
SARATOGA COUNTY— As the world paused to commemorate D-Day, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuyerville, found a moment to pay tribute to local residents who died during overseas conflicts.
Three women from Saratoga County have been laid to rest at Suresnes American Cemetery in France, just outside of Paris.
They include Alice Hagadorn, an army nurse from Corinth, who died in an ambulance crash on May 25, 1919. Also killed in the same incident were Saratoga County residents Florence Beatrice Graham and Ella Dalton.
The lawmaker’s staff located the markers and Stefanik stopped by for a quick visit.
Stefanik said it was important to pay homage to local residents who sacrificed their lives. Her staff also tracked down two soldiers from Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties who died in combat in World War II.
And while riding to Normandy beach for the actual ceremony in a Chinook helicopter, Stefanik learned the pilot’s wife was a Saratoga native.
“There are just so many connections to the district and the region’s military service families,” Stefanik said on Tuesday.
‘FULL OF GRATITUDE’
Stefanik, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, was part of the congressional delegation who traveled to France last month to mark the 75th anniversary of the invasion of Nazi-occupied France byAllied forces.
President Trump joined French President Emmanuel Macron and surviving veterans on the beaches of Normandy to deliver remarks.
“The French people were generally full of gratitude,” she said. “And there was so much gratitude from the World War II veterans who were the stars of the entire event.
“There’s a reason they’re called the Greatest Generation.”
The average age of D-Day veterans is 96, said Stefanik, making the ceremony the last major milestone for many.
New York’s 21st Congressional District, which includes a portion of Saratoga County, contains Fort Drum in Jefferson County, where Stefanik hosted Trump and military brass last summer in an event to sign the annual defense spending bill.
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