Star-Spangled Banners: He Ran His Idea up the Light Pole, and the Mayor Saluted
Carl Mattia stands in front of his own banner displayed on a light post in Avalon.
Carl Mattia wanted to salute a few veterans several years back.
He wound up creating a borough landmark.
Mattia’s vision produced a wave of patriotic banners on local light poles, gracing the business district each summer and fall with displays of veterans with Avalon connections. It stretches from 19th to 33rd Street.
He dubbed the project “Hometown Heroes,” with individual banners denoting one’s name, service branch and theater of conflict, ranging from World War I right through Desert Storm and beyond, along with a picture and the name of a sponsor.
The photo captures honorees during the time they served.
Seventy-five banners are scheduled to go up this year, about a week before Memorial Day, and remain up until November. It’s essentially a Memorial Day-to-Veterans Day display, connecting two landmark dates for United States service branches.
Five years ago, the first dozen banners were unfurled at Veterans Plaza. Year by year, veteran by veteran, the list grows at the pace of perhaps 15 a year. The initiative to include someone often comes from a family member or descendant.
The project, conceived in 2014, has exceeded Mattia’s expectations.
“I was in sitting in an outdoor restaurant Belair, Md., with Dona,” he recalls, referring to his wife of 53 years come June 10. “I saw this display showing men and women in the military and thought ‘that’s pretty cool, why don’t we do that here?’
“I got back to Avalon and talked to Marty,” he says of Mayor Martin Pagliughi. “I told him I would like to get banners up on our new light poles. Marty is supportive of anything regarding veterans, so we were able to go ahead.
“At first, I looked through town, remembering people who had served in World War II, and we went from there. After people saw what it was about, they reached out and wanted to be part of it.”
The administration became involved, dispatching the maintenance department to help hoist the banners in May and remove them in November.
An honoree’s banner is individually sponsored, but the Avalon Historical Society, via private-sector donations, assists with funding as needed. Borough administration and the History Center also help promote the endeavor.
Each banner is 24 by 33 inches.
Technical sophistication has been added by Kimberly Brooks, graphic designer for Seven Mile Publishing & Creative.
Brooks created the initial design for the banners several years ago. On an ongoing basis, she receives the information from Mattia, does any necessary touch-up work on the old photos, updates the information for each person and sends a proof to Mattia. Mattia then gets that approved by the sponsor, typically the family, of the person being honored.
Whenever Mattia sees the Hometown Heroes display, especially the day it all goes up, the past comes alive for him.
The banners reveal a story, an individual’s journey throughout the long history of the nation’s war effort, and the local connection. The Avalon logo is at the top of the banner and the words “Hometown Heroes” spread across a second line. Below that comes a picture and the accompanying name.
People like James Collins, Lieutenant, U.S. Navy, Vietnam. Or Matthew Lynch, Gunners Mate 2nd Class, U.S. Navy, World War II. There are some women named, too. Among them: Margret Ewing, Nurse, American Red Cross, World War II.
Mattia, whose name is on one of the banners, estimates that 60% of the honorees are still alive. He occasionally sees some of them and enjoys hearing “the crazy things they did in the service.”
Even those who have died might surface through the recollection of a family member.
“One woman whose husband was a Vietnam veteran wanted a banner put up for him, as he had died a couple months before,” Mattia says. “It was a sad time; she was in mourning. She brought me the picture, we got it put up and when that happened, she called me, crying on the phone, saying how much it had moved her. That was really nice.”
Mattia’s litany of anecdotes includes a family who loved the banner so much, they surprised the veteran by ordering another one for his home a couple of years later. The surprise was successful.
Collectively, the Hometown Heroes display conveys a stark image to Mattia.
“Families are proud of their relatives, fathers, husbands and kids,” he says. “They want to show that. It’s an encouraging, patriotic, respectful and honorable thing. This is a special group of people. Not many people would know this, but only about 1.5 percent of the population ever served in the military.”
Mattia, a South Philadelphia native, has his own rich family service lineage. His grandfather, Pasquale, who had come from Italy, was granted American citizenship by virtue of serving in World War I, Mattia says.
Mattia’s father, Carmen, served in World War II and was in the famed Battle of the Bulge. Mattia says his father was wounded twice throughout his service career and received some medals, including the Purple Heart. Carmen later worked at the Philadelphia Naval Base.
“I recently found a letter sent by him to my mom,” Mattia says. “It came from the hospital. He was telling her he couldn’t wait to get back to his unit. That was pretty cool.”
Carl made it three consecutive generations of Mattia veterans. He graduated Maritime College in New York in 1967 and spent several years in the United States Coast Guard. His duties encompassed merchant marine safety and port security, inspecting ships for drugs and compliance. He departed the Coast Guard as a Lieutenant Commander.
Mattia’s Avalon connection began in 1984, by process of elimination. Along with Dona, he scoured the Jersey Shore for a perfect place to live.
“Avalon was ideal,” he says. “It was a quiet, family-oriented place. We wanted something soothing and quiet and close enough that we could get involved with places like Wildwood [for family entertainment] when we wanted to.
“When we first moved here, it was not that bad to get in, price-wise. Now it’s a different story. I couldn’t afford to buy my house right now,” he laughs. “This is a kid from Philly who had very little when he first started. I am so glad we settled here.”
Avalon became the roots for Carl and Dona, who have three children and six grandchildren.
Mattia wears several hats now. He is general counsel for CLX Logistics, a Pennsylvania-based global 3PL provider of transportation management systems. He is an Avalon Free Public Library trustee, a past president of the Cape May County Union League, and a member of the Cape May County Republican Committee.
He has been known to hand out pocket constitutions and American flag lapel pins throughout Avalon. Mattia might never know what happens to those items.
But the banners? Those he can see. And feel.
So can anyone passing through the heart of Avalon during the summer.
