By Maureen Rossi
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The life of Seamus Byrne was cut far too short; he left this world after celebrating his 33rd birthday. However, the decorated war veteran did not lose his life in a battlefield in Afghanistan when nine of his brother’s succumbed to a suicide bomber, he lost it when he stepped off the curb on Main Street in his home town of Smithtown.
Awarded a Purple Heart for valor overseas, Byrne suffered a head injury in 2008 in the bombing that took his fellow soldiers. Byrne was born and raised in Kings Park and lived in Smithtown with his wife and two children at the time of his death.
His parents and wife have become friendly with Lavena Sipes of the Courtney Sipes;)
Smart Growth Awards Foundation who also lost her daughter to Main Street in Smithtown. Both families were present at this year’s Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awards where Sipes and Smithtown Chamber of Commerce President Mark Mancini received an award for their safer streets initiative.
The Courtney Sipes memorial is a large one located on the corner of Main Street and Lawrence Ave, it has toys, stuffed animals, messages, a baby doll, some religious items and an American flag. It was created by her family and young friends after her death in November of 2009. It has been omnipresent since the child left the world and represents the things Courtney loved and the people who loved her.
A memorial to Seamus Byrne was erected immediately following his death. Not as large as Courtney’s memorial, it was side by side to hers. It included a beautiful photo of him that his father placed there. The family also hung his fatigue hat and the beret he wore when the day he married his childhood sweetheart. There were also some religious items, of photo of his family, an Irish flag and an American flag. Just likes the Sipes memorial, it represented the things Byrne loved and the people who loved him.
“I was in Ireland when one of my sons called my wife, he rode by the memorial and saw that it was gone,” said Byrne’s father Ollie. His wife was in Ireland with him at the time; however, she didn’t share the information with her husband. “She knew I’d get on the plane and head right back home,” he explained. The elder Bryne said his family is deeply hurt by the act and that according to a good source in the Parks Department, they got orders to tear it down.
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Main St. Smithtown memorial to Seamus Byrne“All we wanted was someone to have the decency to call and let us know,” he added. He said it wasn’t a big eyesore at all and it wasn’t bothering anyone. “It was some basic stuff so when we drove by we could Bless ourselves,” he lamented.
Calls to Supervisor Vecchio and Thomas McCarthy led nowhere. Both town officials said they weren’t even aware the memorial had been taken down and that they knew nothing about it. Some theories arose that perhaps because it was a state road the D.O.T. removed them. However, calls to the D.O.T. have yet to be returned. What makes the incident stranger is that whoever took the items didn’t remove anything from the Sipes Memorial. “I’m so glad that precious child’s memorial is still there for her family,” he explained. He said the Sipes family are wonderful people and they’ve been happy to get to know them.
Byrne’s father was proud of the fact that his son was a highly decorated soldier and said he was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for his son when he left the world. He has his son’s ring and told his grandson that he could have his late father’s ring when he turned sixteen. “Every time he goes to my house, he goes through the boxes with his father’s things, he looks at them, the boy is here all the time,” he said.
The proud grandfather said his young grandson has a shrine to his father set up in his bedroom at home. “We just want his beret back and his hat back so his son could have them.” The Senior Byrnes said this whole thing was unconstitutional. “I went right down to Town Hall, I’m just sick over it.” He hasn’t got any answers yet but video tape from the owner’s of the shopping mall adjacent to the memorial is being sequestered.
(if you have any information regarding the whereabouts of the Seamus Bryne memorial, please send an email to news@smithtownmatters and include Maureen in the subject line and we can arrange to get the items for the family – no names – no questions).