As you enter the center of the park in the town I grew up in, you will come upon this sight. It is the monument dedicated to all of the service members of all wars from the little town of Gorham, New Hampshire. The round stone structure in the foreground used to be a fountain and pool, but now they plant flowers in the center. Somebody probably all most drowned in it somewhere along the way. Liability you know. Too bad, I remember getting quite a bit of change out of there when I was a kid.
Left click on any of these pictures to fill your screen with an awesome view. You'll love them.
Here's a closer view. The stones covering the ground in front of the monument were each purchased and etched with the donors name. This provided the bulk of the funds for the construction of the project. It was dedicated on November 11th, 2000.
Most names have been listed twice, once in the concrete slabs and again on bronze plaques. I believe the ones on the bronze were the ones that actually saw combat duty because there are a few less of them, but I am not sure of this. I am on both. I spent quite a bit of time at this monument on the same day I visited the Vietnam Traveling Wall. I posted on that a couple of weeks ago. I have 14 relatives and over 80 friends memorialized here with me, this from a town of just over 3,000. I am in some very good company. My Dad, 5 cousins, 8 uncles, almost every male classmate from high school and a whole bunch of good friends, yes, very good company indeed!
This last picture is from the back side of the monument. I should have taken one of the entire back, but..... I imagine an update is due shortly. Gorham has many fine young men and women who have served recently, including quite a few from our local National Guard unit a couple years back. Sadly, I don't imagine the back will be half empty for long.
I hope you have enjoyed the second installment of my day of military reminiscing. I will have one more segment soon. I also visited Memorial Park in Berlin, where I live now, on the same day. You'll like the pictures I took of the various memorials there, especially the Vietnam Memorial.
8 comments:
My town has separate memorials for local WWI, WWII, Korea and the Civil War veterans. Sadly one hasn't been put up for Vietnam or either Iraq War.
Another wonderful post, Average.
We don't honor our soldiers enough....thanks to you and so many of your family who fought FOR US.
Speaking of honoring our soldiers, did you see my FIREWORKS post I just put up...YAHOO is as UTTERLY dishonest as the rest of our media and it BURNS ME UP.
Thanks for coming by. z
Great pics. I like small town memorials. Large towns often do them on a grander scale but small towns have more personal touch to them.
stunning..thanks for sharing!
Wow Joe, you're on both. I hope you are proud of your service. The rest of us are certainly grateful for it.
AA,
Well deserved tribute, brother.
Beautiful memorials, thank you for your service, God bless you and all those who also have served!
Shoprat, how about talking up the idea of filling that gap? Start with the local VFW or American Legion.
Z, your welcome and I must have left your blog just about the time you put up that post.
Chuck, I agree, especially when you recognize some of the names inscribed.
Angel, glad you liked it.
MK, I have always been proud that I answered the call, but it is only recently that I and many other Vietnam vets could express that pride without chancing a fist fight.
LOT, thanks. The Gorham Legion post has always been a rather active post. The whole town is really very patriotic, always has been.
Beth, thank you very much.
Post a Comment