The torch atop the World War I Memorial in downtown Riverhead is burning once more.
At some point about a week ago, the eternal flame unexpectedly went out — something that hasn’t happened in many years. The flame has burned bright through all kinds of weather — even withstanding the brunt of Super Storm Sandy. When it was snuffed out, no one seemed to know who was responsible for it, raising concerns that it might not be burning for Monday’s Memorial Day ceremonies.
The monument is on the property of the Suffolk County Historical Society, but, as far as anyone knew, the monument and the flame has been maintained by local veterans groups. But that turned out to be a misapprehension. It’s not maintained by the town. It’s not maintained by historical society. It’s not maintained by the gas company.
Turns out, the company that donated and installed the torch back in 2001 keeps an eye on it and maintains it, unbeknownst to just about everyone.
Frederick Cowan and Company, a manufacturer of industrial burner equipment located on Kroemer Avenue, engineered the equipment that keeps the eternal flame burning. They did the job more than a dozen years ago at the request of former VFW Commander Eugene McSherry. It was McSherry’s idea to replace a long-broken electric memorial light on top of the monument. McSherry, a KeySpan employee, pitched the idea to Tom Cowan and arranged to get the natural gas line and hookup installed.
McSherry, a decorated Army veteran who lived in Wading River and served as commander of the Riverhead VFW post for eight years, has retired to Florida. But when veterans in Riverhead noticed the flame was out last week, the phone calls began. Thinking the town — which pays for the gas — was responsible, McSherry called Riverhead town engineer Ken Testa, who said he knew nothing about who repairs the torch. McSherry called an old friend of his at National Grid. He also called the executive director of the historical society.
It started to look like the flame would not be burning for this year’s Memorial Day ceremonies, McSherry said.
What McSherry didn’t know was that Mike Remski, a Cowan employee who lives in Manorville, had also noticed the flame was out last week. With Memorial Day coming up, he added the monument’s eternal flame to his to-do list.
By the time he arrived to make the repair, Remski was surprised — and perplexed — to find that the lock on the equipment box had been cut and a new gas meter had been installed. But the flame wasn’t lit.
McSherry’s call to his old buddy at National Grid prompted a visit to the site by a utility company employee, who cut the lock, accessed the equipment box and “flipped a couple of relay switches.” That got the torch lit again, but resulted in the transformer burning out, Remski said. The torch went out again.
And that’s why the torch was out, then lit, then dark again and lit again over the past week. All the while, McSherry, the town engineer and the historical society executive director were trying to figure out who was supposed to fix it — and scratching their heads over its apparent repair.
Remski was able to get the torch working — for now.
The eventual diagnosis: a problem with the computer responsible for automatically relighting the torch in case it goes out.
“It’s worked flawlessly for the last six or seven years,” Cowan said today.
Cowan said he’s ordered a new computer for the unit.
The torch should be fine for Memorial Day, he said.
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