Hamilton Post
JULY 2019
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Yaede wins big in ‘ugly’ primary
The art of music Pianist provides Sunday soundtrack at Trenton City Museum By Dan auBrey Sunday visitors to the Trenton City Museum in the Ellarslie mansion in Cadwalader Park can expect a sound helping of art — thanks to pianist George Dabrowski. The Hamilton-based musician is there at the museum’s Yamaha baby grand piano most Sundays between 1 and 4 p.m. “I can’t say I entertain,” says Dabrowski, 72, about the weekly sessions he started in 2007. “I play quietly as background music.” But, he is quick to add, there are some people — mainly older — who just sit and listen. “I tend to play music from the 1920s to the ’50s and some original compositions,” he says about his repertoire. “I also do some improvisations because I don’t want to bore the regular Ellarslie volunteers. So I try to play to different music.” Dabrowski started playing at the museum when he retired from the railroad after 33 years. That includes Penn Central, Conrail, and finally NJ Transit. “I was getting rather sedentary,” he says. “And I made the conscious effort to play music — especially at nursing homes and assisted living facilities,” such as Acorn Glen. And while residents there generally enjoy his playing, some complain about him competing with their television watching. “You have to have an See PIANO, Page 14
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By Joe emanSKi jemanski@communitynews.org
Hamilton resident Gilbert Howland (right) meets with Rep. Chris Smith to discuss two congressional bills that would give Merrill’s Marauders the Congressional Gold Medal. Howland ser ved in the unit during World War II.
Forever a Marauder Gilbert Howland spent months behind enemy lines in World War II By loiS leVine On Sept. 21, 1943, Gilbert Howland, along with 2,000 other American soldiers, set sail on the SS Lurline from San Francisco to Bombay for what President Franklin Roosevelt at the time described as a “hazardous and dangerous” secret mission. The now-Hamilton resident and his unit were to penetrate Japanese-held Burma, part of the effort to defeat Japan in
World War ll. No one, including Howland, was sure what they had volunteered for. But, even now, it doesn’t seem to bother Howland, 96. “I was in Panama at Fort Clayton when Pearl Harbor was hit by Japan,” he said. “The guys I fought with were my buddies. We were like brothers. Our country was attacked. When we were asked to volunteer, we just did it.” When the troops arrived in Burma, conditions were treacherous. Besides being outnumbered by the Japanese, the American soldiers would also wind up facing tropical sickness, monsoons and mosquitoes, all in the near-impenetrable jungles of Burma. To
Howland, who had enlisted in the army in 1941 from his native South Boston after turning 18, it was just something that came with the job. Sent to the Panama Canal for basic training, his regiment took part in the defense of the canal after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, later moving to Trinidad for more training and island defense. It was there that he volunteered for what was to become known as Merrill’s Marauders, named after the commander of the operation, Army General Frank Merrill. Many believed no one would survive the secret mission. Howland was assigned to the Green Combat Team, setSee HOWLAND, Page 16
Hamilton Mayor Kelly Yaede hasn’t had the easiest start to 2019, but she finally got some good news after the polls closed June 4: she had soundly beaten her challenger, David Henderson, in the Republican primary race. Yaede (3,183 votes) nearly doubled up Henderson’s vote tally of 1,603. Yaede won 66 percent of the vote compared to Henderson’s 33 percent—a landslide by any measure. Yaede’s council slate of Richard Balgowan (2,511 votes) and Vinnie Capodanno (2,613) also came close to doubling up Henderson’s running mates, Cynthia Simon (1,437) and Bill Argust (1,298). School board member Tony Celentano, also running for council, pulled in 1,002 votes. Hamilton Township Council president Jeff Martin ran unopposed in the township’s Democratic primary for mayor, and will battle against Yaede in November along with his council running mates Pat Papero and Nancy Phillips. Papero (2,140 votes) and Phillips (2,405) defeated Democrat JoAnne Bruno (1,162 votes), who also ran for council. The Yaede campaign livestreamed victory speeches by township economic development director Marty Flynn, township committee chair Dennis Pone and Yaede after the election See PRIMARY, Page 18
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