18
QUEENS WEEKLY, DEC. 9, 2018
Rescued cat
Vietnam
Long Island Orchestrating for
Nature (LION), an animal rights
nonprofit based on Long Island.
After a young girl shared her
aunt’s Facebook post about a cat
being stuck in a storm drain,
animal activists contacted Di
Leonardo through Facebook
Dec. 1 at 12:30 a.m.
Di Leonardo, along with his
wife Juliana and friend Michael
Dennehy, a cat activist, traveled
to Rosedale to see if they could
help.
The rescue occurred at 248
Street and 143rd Avenue after
the FDNY had removed a manhole
cover on Nov. 30 before midnight
to try to help the cat.
The kitten refused to budge, and
the firefighters eventually left, according
to Rosedale residents who
spoke with Di Leonardo.
Later the NYPD tried to rescue
the cat, but the officers
didn’t have any luck and left the
scene, too, according to Di Leonardo.
“With the manhole covers
opened we used crowbars to access
the sewer,” said Di Leonardo.
“We blocked off exits to the sewer
so that cat would have nowhere
to go to retreat further in.”
Once the exits were blocked,
Di Leonardo, his wife and Dennehy
left a small metal trap in
the sewer and waited there until
5:30 a.m. for the cat to get in, but
the little cat had still refused to
move during the heavy rainfall.
“The cat started meowing
like it had hunger pangs, so
we put cat food and tuna in the
trap,” said Di Leonardo.
The cat finally went into the
trap at 6 a.m. Di Leonardo’s
rescue group then brought the
kitten to a veterinarian to get
spayed, and are fostering the cat
at his home until it gets a forever
home, according to the president
of LION.
“At first she was a scaredy-cat,
but now that she realizes that we
just wanted to help her she has
become very sociable and very
sweet,” said Di Leonardo.
The four-pound cat is underweight
for her age — she is 6
months old — but she did get a
clean bill of health, according to
Di Leonardo.
Those interested in adopting
the kitten can visit Humane-
LongIsland.org .
Reach reporter Naeisha Rose
by e-mail at nrose@cnglocal.com
or by phone at (718) 260–4573.
Continued from Page 1
as Toro who died of illness
related to the war.
Borough President
Melinda Katz allocated
$2.5 million to building
the memorial which
she and Edenhofer did
not believe would ever
be completed as it was
15 years in the making.
According to Edenhofer,
with the majority
of Vietnam veterans
in Queens being above
the age of 70, there
was concern many of
them would not live
long enough to see the
groundbreaking.
“Ultimately this is
going to be something
good, there are a lot of
monuments around
Queens County, but this
is going to be the only
one that’s going to have
all the names,” Paul
Schottenhamel, the adjutant
for Queens County
American Legion, said.
Schottenhamel was
an Army infantryman
in Vietnam awarded
a Purple Heart for
wounds he endured in
Cambodia.
Katz was joined by
state Sen. Joseph Addabbo,
state Assemblyman
Brian Barnell
and City Councilman
Robert Holden, among
others, at the groundbreaking
ceremony.
Woodside is known
to have the highest
number of losses in
Vietnam by zip code,
according to Michael
O’Kane, the former
president of Queens
chapter the VVA.
“In 2008, Pat Toro
had an idea. It became
his dream to
build a monument to
the men and women
who made the ultimate
sacrifice in the
mountains, rice patties,
river, skies and
waters of Vietnam,”
O’Kane said. “I visited
Toro in the hospital
several times, I
was there the night
before he passed.
One of the last things
he said to me was in
regard to this memorial.
‘Get it done’ he
said. This was literally
his dying wish.”
The city Department
of Parks and Recreation
is slated to have
the project completed
by the Fall of 2019.
“We are elated to
celebrate the start of
construction on this
memorial, which is
the product of years
of collaboration between
Parks, Borough
President Katz, and local
veterans,” Queens
Parks Commissioner
Dorothy Lewandowski
said. “The result is a
thoughtful design that
pays tribute to our
borough’s heroes, and
provides a physical
space for contemplation
and community
gathering.”
Although veterans
groups advocated for
a combat cross, the design
of a helmet atop a
rifle, the Parks Department
design will feature
a wall and gardens
instead.
Edenhofer pointed
out that while there are
World War I and World
War II monuments
in Queens, the only
sites paying homage
to Vietnam deaths in
the borough are neighborhood
based, such
as Doughboy Plaza in
Woodside.
“We Vietnam veterans
are all in our
70s, there might be one
or two in his 60s and a
couple so old we don’t
even want to talk about
it. But when we’re gone
there’s no more draft,”
Edenhofer, who volunteered
to serve in the
Marines, said. “People
don’t have to worry
about getting drafted,
so they forget about it.
They see a blurb in the
newspaper about sergeant
so-and-so died
in Afghanistan today,
oh where’s the sale
pages. It doesn’t mean
anything because they
don’t have to worry
about it happening to
them.”
“We were pretty
much the forgotten
guys,” Edenhofer
concluded.
Continued from Page 1
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