Frank P. Witek Memorial Park

Building Bridges
Frank P. Witek Memorial Park, Derby & Ansonia
December 2024

Like many things in Derby, the trails here cross over into a neighboring town. Derby is tiny. Derby cannot be contained to itself. Derby’s gonna Derb. Let’s hike.

I guess technically Witek Park is just the Derby half of this hike. The northern half, in Ansonia mostly near the high school, is probably not official park, but that’s not important. (What is important is that the trail suffers a bit as it nears the high school, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

There’s a nice lot at the southern end of the park, right next to a beautiful pine grove that borders the lower Ansonia Reservoir. I guess you can start this loop at a dozen different places, but I very much recommend this place. I also very much recommend hiking counterclockwise. (Otherwise, you’ll be walking on a road at the outset and not only is that kind of lame, you also won’t know where to get off the road.)

The pine grove here also has a bunch of Frank P. Witek remembrances. The guy deserves them. While this property has a long municipal history, it wasn’t dedicated to Witek until 1999.

The City of Derby officially dedicated the former water company property in memory of PFC Frank P. Witek who received the Medal of Honor for his bravery in battle during World War II. Witek was born in Derby on December 10, 1921. Though he only lived in Derby for the first ten years of his life and later lived in Illinois, he considered Derby his home and listed it as such on his official military records.

The official story of Witek’s gallantry is simply but elegantly recorded in the official citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 1st Battalion, Ninth Marines, Third Marine Division, during the Battle of Finegayan at Guam, Marianas, on 3 August 1944. When his rifle platoon was halted by heavy surprise fire from well camouflaged enemy positions, Private First Class Witek daringly remained standing to fire a full magazine from his automatic rifle at point-blank range into a depression housing Japanese troops, killing eight of the enemy and enabling the greater part of his platoon to take cover. During his platoon’s withdrawal for consolidation of lines, he remained to safeguard a severely wounded comrade, courageously returning the enemy’s fire until the arrival of stretcher bearers and then covering the evacuation by sustained fire as he moved backward toward his own lines. With his platoon again pinned down by a hostile machine gun, Private First Class Witek, on his own initiative, moved forward boldly ahead of the reinforcing tanks and infantry, alternately throwing hand grenades and firing as he advanced to within five to ten yards of the enemy position, destroying the hostile machine-gun emplacement and an additional eight Japanese before he himself was struck down by an enemy rifleman. His valiant and inspiring action effectively reduced the enemy’s fire power, thereby enabling his platoon to attain its objective, and reflects the highest, credit upon Private First Class Witek and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

My granddad served in the south Pacific and I’ve become fascinated with these horrible battles on the islands out there. Especially the islands that no one had ever heard of except for WWII battles (Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Midway, etc.)

Hiking around two reservoirs in Derby and Ansonia, though there are some challenges, isn’t quite the same. In fact, the first mile or so is wonderful. Through the pine grove and up to the upper reservoir. It’s pretty, flat, and the trail is easy to follow.

There’s a bridge and a crossover between the reservoirs if you just want to encircle the lower one – which honestly isn’t a bad idea.

Once I’d walked up alongside the upper reservoir, just before the trail enters the woods rather than the open areas, I noticed a path up to the soccer fields. I wanted to check them out, so I did. They are nice fields.

There’s a memorial here to a young man who passed away in a car accident as well. Sigh. People, please drive better.

Back to the trail and north into the woods and… here’s where I had some issues. In fact, if I was hiking this in August rather than December, I’m pretty sure I’d have turned tail. The next quarter mile or so is a mess. It’s blazed blue (randomly) but those disappear along with the trail at points. I knew to just head north and with no foliage, I could see the large Ansonia High School from quite a ways away. So I just kept plodding along.

It wasn’t too bad and once I’d reached the area between the school and the reservoir, the trail magically reappeared and was easy to follow again.

In fact, it largely followed bridges. So. Many. Bridges. At least a dozen of them, one after another. Beneath the school, beneath a baseball field, around the northern tip of the upper reservoir. You wanna see? Oh, I’ve got pictures.

Bridges, man.

After all the bridges, the trail just sort of does whatever. It enters a little pocket park, and then goes to another soccer field. Then it’s back to take another look at the reservoir before dumping you out on the tiny Coe Road, right next to some houses, and then Prindle Avenue, which isn’t the safest road in the world to walk down. But it is pretty.

And if you hate road walking, tough, because you still need to walk down the main road back to your car. All told, it’s about a mile on the roads of Derby. Let’s just hope it’s not… not… not a demolition Derby!

Sorry. The final stretch took me back to the reservoir and finally into the pine grove again and my car.

I really liked this hike for some reason. It has a little bit of everything other than mountains or climbs. It wouldn’t take much to fix up that one trouble area, although a few of those bridges aren’t going to last much longer. And then, who knows.

Respect to PFC Witek and to the soccer playing boy who passed away. And a thank you to the trail maintainers of Derby and Ansonia. Please keep this loop alive!

CTMQ hikes Derby’s Town Trails
CTMQ hikes Ansonia’s Town Trails