History:

Where as, rarely does a man of humility walk through a community without its townspeople knowing of the bravery and dedication he has shown to his fellow man, risking his own life to save others and

Where as, the actions of William Van Wilpe a lifelong resident of Wanaque, on August 3, 1945 shows the courage, determination and dedication of a man who put the lives of others before his own and

Where as, on August 3, 1945, the USS Bassett, serving in the waters off of the Philippines, responded to the site where the USS Indianapolis had been destroyed four days earlier, finding men who had been in the water for that entire time, water logged and soaked with oil and

Where as, William Van Wilpe, seeing men struggling to get into smaller boats, jumped into shark infested waters, pulling men to safety and gathering men together, waiting for the next small boat to arrive and

Where as, with his strength, courage and determination, William Van Wilpe saved many lives that day, giving hope to men who were in despair for those four long days and

Where as, after sixty years, William Van Wilpe is being properly honored by the United States Government in being awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the highest non-combat lifesaving medal and the non-combat version of the Bronze Star.

Wanaque Borough has an interesting history, recorded through the years in stories, documents - and later, in photographs - which have come our way for inclusion in the following pages. The hyperlink below will take you to Wanaque Area Local History, a website project drawn together and constructed by Richard Mariconda, Library Director of the Wanaque Borough Free Public Library. Work on this site following was funded, in part, by a grant from the Technology Bond Fund administered by the New Jersey State Library. The work was done by Richard Mariconda under the auspices of the Wanaque Public Library, with the generous help provided by earlier historians, whose contributions to the Wanaque Golden and Diamond Jubilee Books were freely used, with permission, for this non-profit effort.

The wonderful archival photographs came from various sources, as noted in the text of the site. There are many other important photographs in the collections of local historians and other stories to tell about the history of Wanaque Borough. Over the course of time to come, we hope to extend this online local history resource with other materials, adding to the glimpse of bygone days through words and irreplaceable archival photographs.