By Staff
Veterans’ groups to unveil memorial on Veterans Day
By CLAUD HODGES
Newsroom Manager
Representatives of Beaufort County veterans’ groups met Monday and scheduled the unveiling of a battlefield-cross monument at Veterans Park on Veterans Day.
The fallen-soldier memorial, or battlefield-cross monument, is a brass statue of a standing rifle, its barrel in the ground, with a soldier’s boots on either side of the barrel and a soldier’s helmet balanced on the butt of the rifle.
Traditionally, a battlefield-cross monument is constructed using a fallen soldier’s rifle, boots and helmet by his comrades on the battlefield where the soldier died.
The City of Washington purchased the battlefield cross monument and veterans’ groups from throughout the county expressed their interest in the project and met to offer their help in working toward improvement of Veterans Park in Washington.
Veterans Park is on East Third Street in Washington.
Veterans at the meeting set a goal for the long-term improvement of Veterans Park. They decided by consensus to seek $25,000 from Beaufort County, $25,000 from the City of Washington and $25,000 from the public sector to make improvements at the park.
Jennette said donations are nearing $3,000 from veterans groups and from the public.
A plaque will be affixed to the base of the fallen-soldier monument that reads “ALL GAVE SOME — SOME GAVE ALL” and the seals of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Army National Guard and Merchant Marine will run below the slogan.