Artist battles to have
his name on memorial

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

The Fairmount Park Commission is expected to settle a dispute between a Torresdale man and the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee.
Fred DeMuro, 81, attended last week’s park commission meeting at the Glen Foerd Mansion with his attorney, Michael McGuigan. The advisory committee was not represented, but members are expected at the June 6 meeting.
DeMuro, a Glenloch Street resident and retired staff artist and sign painter for the Department of Streets, contends that he designed the logo for the memorial, which is located near Front and Spruce streets, and that he was promised that his name would be included on the memorial.
The advisory committee insists that DeMuro was merely one of several people who designed the logo.
If anybody promised DeMuro that his name would be on the memorial, the committee says, they did not have the authority. Only the names of the 625 Philadelphia men who were killed in the Vietnam War belong on the memorial, it says.
Still, DeMuro is expected to ask that his name be placed on the memorial at the next commission meeting, which will be held at Lloyd Hall on Boathouse Row.
"That’s where my name belongs," he said. "I was promised."
The committee will likely agree to place his name on a planter near the memorial, which was dedicated in 1986.
"I don’t like that at all," he said. "I don’t like where they’re putting it."
His attorney, though, thinks the committee members, some of whom didn’t want to put DeMarco’s name anywhere, seem agreeable to some compromise.
"They’ve come a long, long way," he said.
The logo features a Liberty Bell with a bald eagle superimposed carrying a set of dog tags.
DeMuro, who served in World War II along with his four brothers, said he never wanted any money for his work. He was happy with a promise 21 years ago that his name would be engraved on the memorial.
"I’m still waiting," he said.
Among the evidence that DeMuro cites as proof that he designed the logo is a letter of commendation from James White, then the city managing director. He also points to a letter from then-Streets Commissioner Alexander Hoskins to then-District Attorney Ron Castille (a Vietnam War veteran) saying how proud the department is of DeMuro. And he notes that Today’s Vet magazine featured a picture of him as the designer in its fall 1987 issue.
DeMuro said he was asked to design the logo in 1984 by Dennis Fink, who was president of the memorial fund. Fink’s father, Carl, was a friend of DeMuro’s.
Looking back, he believes he made a mistake in not copyrighting the logo.
Among those supporting DeMuro at the May 11 meeting were his wife Helen; friends and former co-workers Joe Johnston and Benny Lechtman; businessman and longtime friend Charlie Garuffe; and Mike Stack Jr., his original attorney and McGuigan’s employer.
"You were gypped," Johnston told him.
Bobby Nix, chairman of the commission, said DeMuro’s name will be somewhere near or on the memorial.
Commission member Rosanne Pauciello, a Democratic ward leader from South Philadelphia, was more supportive.
"You deserve to have your name on it," she said. "An artist deserves to be able to sign his work." ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com