smithville vets memorial

  • By Tami Lange Mosser
  • November 5, 2013
  • 372
                        
There’s a nice, sunny spot in Smithville’s village park where a group of citizens is hoping to construct a memorial to those who served in the Armed Forces. Plans for the proposed pentagon-shaped memorial with marble monuments to each branch of the service, are on display at Smithville Hardware. Now, committee members are ready to get on with the fundraising for the memorial, which they’d like to see dedicated a year from now. The goal is $105,000, according to committee member Rick Dilyard. Ideally, $45,000 will be raised by Jan. 1, in order to have the money to order the granite for both a base for the American flag and also for the slabs surrounding it that represented the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. Dilyard said the 11-member committee had been considering design options ever since Village Council allocated park space near the new soccer field and behind the Mishler Weaving Mill a few years ago. “We visited lots of (memorial) sites,” Dilyard said. “We got some really good ideas.” All those ideas were turned over to Smithville art teacher and committee member Jodi Shilling, who said she mentally went through all the images that came to mind when thinking of each branch of service. What she came up with is a pentagon-shape space with a flag at its center, surrounded by granite pieces marking each service branch, including a representative image: the Iwo Jima flag raising for the Marines, a ship for the Navy and so on. Each also will have a laser-engraved eagle in different poses and the branch’s insignia and a gold star to represent the Gold Star Families. On each side of a small path to the site will be memorials to prisoners of war and those missing in action and also to the Merchant Marines. “We didn’t want to be like everyone else,” said Dilyard. “We wanted some uniqueness.” Making the memorial even more unique – while at the same time raising funds for its construction – will be pavers in three different sizes which can be bought in honor or memory of a veteran. The committee is being co-chaired by Maynard Yoh and Pat Purdy, the latter a veteran and Shilling’s aunt. The local Ruritans and the 555th Honors Detachment also are assisting with the effort. Committee member Jeff Shull said his family settled in Smithville after his father finished a tour of duty in Vietnam. A Navy veteran himself, Shull now works with the Wayne County Veterans Service Commission and said Smithville is a good place for the site, although veterans honored there do not need to have a local tie. There are restrictions, Dilyard said. No businesses or non-veteran persons will be memorialized on the pavers. Any veteran – regardless of hometown – can be honored. “We want to be very respectful honoring them,” Dilyard said. Pavers are available in three sizes: 8-by-8 inches for $100; 8-by-16 inches for $160; and 16-by-16 inches for $300. A order form is available online at www.veteransmemorialinsmithville.org, along with renderings of the memorial Donations toward the memorial can be made through the Wayne County Community Foundation, 517 N. Market St/ (and should be marked “Veterans Memorial in Smithville”). Donations are tax-deductible. A scale model of the site can be viewed in the front window of Smithville Hardware, 107 E. Main St. (state Route 585), Smithville.


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