{"id":185962,"date":"2024-11-11T21:35:50","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T02:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=185962"},"modified":"2024-11-12T22:10:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T03:10:14","slug":"new-legion-monuments-officially-unveiled-dedicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2024\/11\/11\/new-legion-monuments-officially-unveiled-dedicated\/","title":{"rendered":"Legion Post 178 monuments dedicated"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many months of planning and work came to fruition on Monday with the unveiling of five new monuments and two new benches at Van Wert American Legion Post 178\u2019s Memorial Park on W. Main St.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A well attended dedication ceremony was held at the park Monday morning, followed by a short Veterans Day service. Monuments for veterans that served in non-conflicts, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan as well as law enforcement, and fire and EMS for all of Van Wert County were unveiled, along with tiles\/bricks with names of local veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
American Legion Commander Randy Matthews stands with one of five new monuments after unveiling it during a dedication ceremony on Veterans Day. Scott Truxell\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Post 178 Past Commander Ken Myers noted Memorial Park previously served as a cemetery many decades ago, but was moved to Woodland Cemetery. In 1925, a monument was erected in the southeast corner of the park honoring those who perished in World War I. That monument still stands today. In 1985, a monument was erected to be the focal point honoring World War II, Korean War and Vietnam casualties. He also noted that less than one percent of the population serves in the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cToday we are here to honor those men and women who have chosen to serve in the ranks but even more so to honor those who are often the forgotten \u2013 those being our first responders, law enforcement, corrections officers, 911 dispatchers, as well as our firefighters and EMTs,\u201d he said. \u201cThese men and women are our first line of defense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to a death in the family, U.S. Congressman Bob Latta was unable to attend but his representative, David Wirst, presented Legion officials with a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol, and State Representative Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland) delivered brief remarks praising law enforcement, first responders and members of the military past and present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWaking up at two in the morning to respond to an accident or a fire, to be part of a community where we respect law enforcement, where we hold in esteem first responders and the firemen \u2013 it\u2019s quite humbling to be a part of that community. Klopfenstein said. \u201cAs we look at the turmoil in the world today, we can\u2019t help but be thankful for the men and women who have served and are serving to maintain peace in this world and give us the opportunity to be blessed by the freedoms that we have been given.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Monday\u2019s dedication ceremony also included a wreath presentation, a 21-gun salute and taps. Lunch was provided after the ceremony and the Veterans Day ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plans to add the new monuments were first announced in July, 2022, and funds were raised for the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of emtional seeing it finally complete,\u201d Myers said. \u201cIt was overwhelming at times but today it shows hard work pays off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiles\/bricks are still available for purchase. The cost of a 4\u00d78 brick is $100 and a paver is $350. Both include personalized text. An order form can be found on Legion Post 178\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor Many months of planning and work came to fruition on Monday with the unveiling of five new monuments and two new benches at Van Wert American Legion Post 178\u2019s Memorial Park on W. Main St. A well attended dedication ceremony was held at the park Monday morning, followed by a short Veterans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 22:07:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185962"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186025,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185962\/revisions\/186025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}