Elmer Reynolds signed a contract Thursday provided by John Piatt, regional sales manager for Piqua Granite & Marble Co., Inc. for etching work on the monument at O'Neal Park. Indiana etchers Warren and Butch Bays provided plans.

On the back left-hand side of the monument will be the Korean War and on the right will be Vietnam. The center back shows the Twin Towers, the Persian Gulf and air cover for the war in Iraq. On the monument's top, the Marines and flag at Iwo Jima will be etched. John Piatt of Piqua Granite & Marble Co. said he would join two artists and five other workers for 10 days on the memorial site. This front section will show the Pacific Theater of WWII on the whole left side. The other side covers the European Theater and WWI.

Elmer Reynolds, Veterans Memorial coordinator, has been a lifelong eternal optimist. Over two years ago, he proclaimed that it was his dream to help Martinsville and Morgan County have "just about the best small-town and county veterans memorial in America." Reynolds said many people may have passed this statement off as "just one of Elmer's fantasies."

However, when the beautiful jet-black monument with the names of Morgan County's 149 young men killed in 20th century wars was dedicated on Memorial Day weekend, local residents had their first glimpse of the Veterans Memorial Committee's plans for O'Neal Park.

The committee called this granite memorial "Phase I" because according to Reynolds, Wayne Dillman, Merrill St. John, Ed Williams and Bill Cure, "The best is yet to come."

Phase II is being planned for later this summer if sufficient funds can be raised. Committee members agree that the memorial just might be the most spectacularly beautiful work of granite anywhere in America.

Reynolds said the large 16' x 14' premium black granite monument would be "an etched portrayal of some of the most historical battle scenes from all the wars of the last century."

Reynolds explained, "Our good friends at Piqua Granite & Monument Co. in Piqua, Ohio, have dedicated an exhaustive amount of time, effort and research, employing some of the most talented artists and artisans in America to come up with the very realistic battle scenes."

He added, "From Pearl Harbor, to Normandy, to Bart Hahn's C-47 "Flying the Hump," to Verle Maxwell's B-17, to the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, we think we will show some of the most important scenes of WWII."

Reynolds stressed that Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, the War on Terrorism, 9-11, and today's war in Iraq would not be left out of the etched pictorial. The whole back side is dedicated to those events.

"Phase I cost us nearly $90,000 - all of which was paid for by the purchase of Commemorative Bricks (for $65) for the Veterans Walk of Freedom and some very generous donations by local supporters," Reynolds said. "When we consider the sacrifice so many have made for our freedoms, we hope that more people will be willing to give generously to the Veterans Memorial to help pay for Phase II of the project."

The cost of Phase II will be about another $90,000 with about $20,000 being paid for by brick sales and donations this year, Reynolds remarked.

In order to complete the project by late summer and to be able to dedicate it in the warm weather of early Autumn, Merrill St. John and Ed Williams, both combat veterans of WWII, are heading up the Commemorative Brick Sales Campaign. They are urging people in large numbers to show up every Saturday morning at the Veterans Memorial Museum in Martinsville to order bricks.

St. John said, "We have placed more than 800 bricks and we have another 220 to be put down. There are still 3,000 to 5,000 more potential brick orders to be made by Morgan County families."

St. John is passionate about this memorial and said, "There are so many people who could do much more. We hope family members will no longer continue to neglect or forget our veterans."
 

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Memorial brick is perfect remembrance, says Reynolds
Monday, May 19, 2003

With Memorial Day just days away, the Morgan County Veterans Memorial Committee announced that they are launching a Commemorative Brick Sale campaign designed to reach those families who have not yet ordered a brick. Bricks may be purchased for a family member or loved one who is now currently serving in the military or has served in years past.

Elmer Reynolds, Veterans Memorial Project coordinator, wanted to remind Morgan County veterans and their families that although 800 bricks were placed on the Veterans Walk of Freedom last summer, an additional 200-plus bricks are now waiting to be laid down.

Reynolds said there are still hundreds of veterans, active-duty servicemen and women, Reservists and National Guardsman who have not yet ordered bricks or have not had bricks ordered in their memory.

Veterans Memorial Committee members Merrill St. John, Ed Williams and Wayne Dillman are reminding all who really care about their veterans "to remember and honor those veterans during the Memorial Day season." Reynolds noted, "So many from Morgan County have served with honor and distinction. Surely, we don't want any veteran to be forgotten."

Reynolds said people could stop in the Veterans Memorial Museum on Saturday mornings and get the forms and buy bricks. On Friday, May 23, the museum will be open from 9 a.m. to noon, and on Saturday, May 24, the museum will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.


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Reporter-Times staff

Thursday, April 17, 2003

The printing of the names of bricks that have been purchased in dedication, memory or in honor of a veteran or a homefront server is so greatly appreciated. We, the Morgan County Veterans Memorial Committee, are dedicated to honoring all veterans and homefront servers with the placing of two beautiful monuments in O'Neal Park. We cannot adequately express our thanks for the support that the Reporter-Times owners and staff have given this endeavor. Our efforts to dedicate these monuments to all persons who so unselfishly served this country have been made easier by your help and contributions. This committee feels honored and humbled with the opportunity to spearhead this drive. It was wonderful to see all the names in print in the bricks that either have been or will be laid in the near future.

We invite everyone to visit the Veterans Museum and stroll through the park and contemplate the meaning of the Phase I monument and the bricks that are laid on the "Walk of Freedom." This monument is dedicated to all the Morgan County men who gave their lives in service to this country. The drive to fund the Phase II monument is now underway. This monument will honor all service men and women who served in the military, past and present.

Again, Bette, Jim and staff, thank you for your hard work, time and efforts. This community holds all of you in high esteem.
Margaret J. Dillman, Secretary/treasurer, Morgan County Veterans Memorial Committee

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Standing in front of the newest monument in O’Neal Park are Veterans Memorial Executive Committee members and their wives, who have also contributed to the project. From left are Rosemary and Ed Williams, Viola Reynolds, and Margaret and Wayne Dillman. Not pictured are Elmer Reynolds and Merrill and Marilyn St. John.

After more than two years of planning by the Morgan County Veterans Memorial Committee, a second monument has become a reality and will be dedicated on Sunday at 3 p.m. at O’Neal Park. It depicts scenes from all wars of the 20th Century, starting with World War I and ending with the war in Iraq.

Speaker for the program is Capt. William Carpenter, U.S. Navy officer from Mooresville. His topic will be "The Price They Paid for Our Freedom."

Lt. Col. Christopher Burnham, Indiana Air National Guard, retired, will read a verse engraved on the memorial, "Freedom Is Not Free." He will lead in the flag pledge before the program is closed with a prayer.

Realize longtime dream

It has been the longtime dream of the committee to erect two memorial monuments honoring veterans in the park on the square. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

One veteran and former Martinsville resident saw the monument engravings while here for the Fall Foliage Festival. He was so touched by the scene of a soldier coming out of the jungles of Vietnam that he donated $5,000 toward the project. The scene reminded him of his time there.

The first monument was completed in Phase I and bears the names of 149 Morgan County servicemen who gave their lives for their country from 1918 to the present. It was dedicated last Veterans’ Day weekend. Even the name of Major Stephen Long (formerly of Monrovia), who died on 9-11 in the terrorist attack on the Pentagon, is etched on the triangular-shaped granite memorial.

The beginning

Project coordinator Elmer Reynolds led the drive to place the two monuments in the park. He and his executive committee of Wayne Dillman, Merrill St. John and Ed Williams have raised more than $145,000 of the $180,000 cost for the total project. They have sold memorial bricks with names of veterans, have accepted donations and have sponsored other money-making programs. Many volunteers have joined them along the way, including their wives, who have been very involved.

The heart-rending memories of the late Dean Kidwell and the story of his brother Bobby Kidwell’s death in World War II later inspired Reynolds. With Kidwell’s financial support, the project started in late summer of 2001.

Ironically, just one week before the terrorist bombing of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Reynolds went before the Martinsville City Council to ask permission to place a monument honoring veterans in O’Neal Park.

Mayor Shannon Buskirk and councilmen were enthusiastic and unanimous in their support for the plans, said Reynolds.

Gets more support

When WWII veterans Williams and St. John came on board, Reynolds thought the project was off and running. Later, when Ed and Rosemary Williams took Reynolds and his wife Viola to Farmers Day at the state fair, they ran onto Dillman, who also joined the monument effort.

"Wayne (Dillman) is a real action-oriented guy," said Reynolds. "He knows how to get things done, and with the great organizational skills of his wife Margaret, it wasn’t long until we were on the right track to accomplish our goals."

Soon Reynolds also picked up help from Walt "Buckshot" Wise, a WWII Navy submariner from Morgantown with a successful entrepreneurial business background.

Walk of Freedom

The laying of the memorial bricks in "The Walk of Freedom" around the first monument also began and has now stretched to include the area around the second monument.

The second monument, completed in Phase II, is a 16-by-14 foot granite panorama of great battle scenes from WWI up to this year’s Operation Enduring Freedom in Iraq.

Pre-program events

A $5 a meal hog roast, at the Veterans Museum on the south side of the square, will begin at 10:30 a.m. Proceeds will go to the memorial efforts. The museum will be open for Sunday also.

At 2:15 p.m., a Martinsville High School barbershop quartet, under direction of Tim James, will provide patriotic music. Quartet members include Charles Copeland, Seth Bowling, Scott Parnell and David Zimmer.

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Eleven “Hometown Heroes” from Morgan County enjoyed a moment of recognition as they rode on The Reporter-Times Fall Foliage Festival float in 2001. From left: Cliff Trowbridge, Byron Wilson, Wendell Phillips, Manson Groves, his brother Ed Groves, David Thacker, Tom Arnold, and Robert Gay.

The haunting words of the recent classic Darryl Worley and Lynn Varble recording, “Have You Forgotten?” was promoted as “a song you’ll always remember about an event we can never forget.”

Many of us back on the home front need to remember that our young American men and women, including several from Morgan County, are still risking their lives in Iraq. We need to remember that the 149 names engraved on the Morgan County Veterans Memorial (Phase I) serve to remind us daily that “freedom is not free.”

As many of our readers know, this “Hometown Heroes” columnist was prevented by a physical disability from serving in our nation’s military. But from my earliest boyhood days, my heroes were more than just Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

During WWII I looked upon Jimmy Doolittle, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, Audie Murphy, and, yes, Colin Kelly (the first U.S. Army Airman to receive the Medal of Honor) as the men I dreamed of emulating.

My real life heroes during WWII became my Uncle Byron Wilson, Verle Maxwell, Richard Teeters, Albert Baughn, Merrill St. John, and Milton McKee Jr. Added to this list were my North End neighborhood idols like Arnold “Dutch” Hacker, Arlo Bowman, Charles Glover and Richard Ayers.

Worthy of the title ‘Hometown Heroes’

Nearly half a century later, I finally met the late Dean Kidwell of Waverly, a Korean War Veteran. I enjoyed getting to know this genuine American patriot, husband, and father.

Kidwell and Baughn shared the stories of their brothers’ deaths during WWII on Memorial Day weekend 2001 in the county Administration Building. Out of that May 24 tribute to the boys killed in World War II, Kidwell conceived the idea of building a memorial for all the veterans from Morgan County.

He sent this columnist a $500 donation to be used to start a Morgan County Veterans Memorial. I told him that I really didn’t know how to go about it. His response was “Keep the money because someday soon you’ll know how to get started.”

Brick sales important

Over the course of the summer of 2001, even before the tragic days of 9-11, God seemed to direct us in mysterious ways. Veterans Wayne Dillman and Merrill St. John formed the Veterans’ Memorial Committee with local residents and media persons joining the effort.

With Phase I of the Veterans’ Memorial Project dedicated last November, we have reached a critical junction this weekend along the road of completing Phase II and dedicating this second monument in early November. Paying for what we have dreamed of creating has been truly a challenge.

When the project is completed, it will have cost nearly $185,000. No public or taxpayer money has been used to fund it. We have been blessed by some generous donations, but we have relied mainly on the commemorative brick sales to help finance our Veterans Memorial.

Hundreds of people have bought bricks at a cost of $65 per brick. When we established a Sept. 15 deadline (now extended to October 5th) for ordering bricks in time to be laid by our November 2003 dedication, brick sales in the past three weeks exploded.

We will make every effort to guarantee delivery and placement in our “Walk of Freedom” and phase II dedication in early November for any order received this weekend with a check dated no later than Oct. 5, 2003.

The Morgan County Veterans Museum on the corner of Jefferson and Washington streets will be open all day today, Oct. 4. We will be downtown for the day of festivities on the Public Square, so you can stop in and order your bricks. We need to remember those who gave so much!
 

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Business couples purchase bricks for forgotten veterans

By Amy Hillenburg
Friday, September 19, 2003

About 1,500 area veterans, past and present, have been remembered with the purchase of a Commemorative Brick for the Walk of Freedom in the Morgan County Veterans Memorial in O’Neal Park, Martinsville.

Earlier this week, however, a trio of Martinsville business couples responded with generous financial donations to an idea conceived by Veterans Memorial Coordinator Elmer Reynolds to remember those servicemen and women who have, to date, been forgotten. With more than 7,000 persons in Morgan County eligible, there are so many who have been neglected or forgotten.

As the Veterans Memorial Committee searched for ways to get people to buy bricks for veterans who did not yet have one, Reynolds had an idea that has now resulted in a new brick sales drive, “Remembering the Forgotten.”

He was talking to Jennifer Sadler and her mother Velma Jones downtown at the Veterans Memorial. Sadler asked Reynolds which veterans did not yet have bricks.

This question seemed to be the perfect inquiry about one of the biggest concerns of the Veterans Memorial Committee for the past few months.

Earlier this week, as Reynolds pursued the question with Sadler, he realized that many people were not aware that thousands of veterans had been forgotten. So the idea was quickly developed to form a group of concerned boosters of the Memorial who would be willing to underwrite the expense of buying bricks for these forgotten men and women.

Sadler was in the process of ordering a brick for her husband Stan, a Vietnam Veteran, and she immediately told Reynolds that they would be willing to donate money to purchase several bricks. Stan and Jennifer are partners in the Martinsville Sadler Real Estate office.

Reynolds said as he was talking to the Sadlers, he looked out of their office window and saw two of the veterans’ biggest boosters, Mac and Desi Dunn, walking down the street with their grandchildren. Mac is CEO of Dunn Sales & Marketing. Reynolds presented the idea of underwriting the purchase of bricks for the forgotten veterans, and without hesitation, the Dunns offered to donate money for 10 bricks.

Reynolds also shared the idea with Forkey’s Restaurant owners Forrest and Pat Brummett, two of the Memorial’s biggest supporters. They, too, offered their financial support for the new brick campaign.

“If hundreds of people who have already ordered a brick or even several bricks would ask around in their family or circle of friends, they might find a veteran who should have a brick,” Reynolds said. “Then they can see that a brick is ordered right away, and we will be able to pay for Phase II of the memorial.”

For more information about ordering bricks before the Oct. 5 deadline, call Wayne or Margaret Dillman at 342-9698 or Elmer Reynolds at 342-4484. Interested persons may also stop in the Veterans Memorial Office and Museum on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m to noon.
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Brick order extension

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

With hundreds of Veterans Commemorative Brick orders received these past few weeks, the Veterans Memorial Committee has negotiated a new deadline date with the brick manufacturer in Indianapolis. Wayne Dillman, chairman of the committee, said Ceramica Inc. has agreed that if delivery orders are received by Monday, Oct. 6, the $65 brick price will stay in effect through Oct. 5.

Bricks ordered after the deadline will cost $80.

The company also noted that bricks ordered by the new deadline date will be delivered to the Veterans Memorial in time for them to be placed down for the Phase II dedication in early November.

Brick order forms are available at the Veterans Museum, the Post Office, The Reporter-Times office, Forkey's Restaurant, Home Bank, Speedy Car Wash, and others.

Those needing brick order forms or more information can call Wayne or Margaret Dillman at (765) 342-9698 or Elmer Reynolds at (765) 342-4484.

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Loren Bays concentrates as he adds color to the American flag on the otherwise black and gray veterans memorial being constructed at O'Neal Park in Martinsville. Loren and Butch Bays of Bays Brothers, a memorial etching company based in New Albany, expect to spend about two months on the project. The scale of the work, Bays noted, "is totally unprecedented for us." Keith Rhoades photo
 

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Merrill St. John (center) holds a miniature model of what the finished Veterans' Monument will look like after etching work is completed. St. John had pictures of the design and the library laminated them on a miniature monument. Elmer Reynolds, St. John and Ed Williams stressed that there are still more than 4,000 veterans eligible for brick purchases, and sales must go well to pay for the monument. Amy Hillenburg photo

Elmer Reynolds has a passion for all veterans and what they sacrificed for the service they gave to their country. As a dreamer and eternal optimist, he has long proclaimed his conviction "that Martinsville and Morgan County will have the best small town or small county Veterans Memorial in America."

Although a physical impairment prevented him from military service, the long-time writer of the Reporter-Times "Hometown Heroes" columns has spearheaded a drive to make this dream come true.

As Elmer tells it, "Meeting Dean and Martha Kidwell, Merrill and Marilyn St. John, Ed and Rosemary Williams, Wayne and Margaret Dillman, Ben Rawlins, Katie Hamilton, David Keister, Debbie Rader, Steve Ross, Erin Frew, Walt and Betty Wise, George Bauman, Warren and Ann McDaniel, and getting my lifelong friends Bill Cure, John Stewart, Bart and Shirley Hahn, Bob Kendall and Forrest and Pat Brummett involved in our Veterans Memorial Project has been so vital to our success to date."

Reynolds said, "These people have been so generous, along with others, with their time, their financial resources and their overall support. They have been a driving force that has helped us turn the late Banta native and Korean War veteran Dean Kidwell's dream of building a great Morgan County Veterans Memorial into the half-completed reality that we have today."

But Reynold's friends on the Veterans Memorial Committee reminded him that it would take a generous response from Morgan County citizens to pay for Phase II of the project.

When Phase I of the memorial was dedicated on Veterans Day weekend, the planned project was only half completed. This first phase cost almost $90,000 and was paid for completely by commemorative brick sales and private donations from Morgan County residents. Bricks cost $65 and come with a frame-worthy certificate. The Veterans Memorial Committee needs to sell between 800 and 1,000 bricks to pay for Phase II.

With all the enthusiasm and appreciation for the completed Phase I, brick sales chairmen Merrill St. John and Ed Williams and project director Wayne Dillman have presented Reynolds with a "strong dose of reality."

According to St. John, an Army Air Force veteran of WWII, "We need an immediate response by our community for a large number of additional brick orders and financial donations in order to pay for Phase II of the Veterans Memorial."

Although more than 800 bricks were placed last October, there are an additional 200 more bricks engraved and ready to lay down later this week. There are orders for a hundred more.

St. John, who has been passionate about this topic, pointed out the following facts. "When you consider the hundred years of the past century, up and including those presently serving in the military, there are between 5,000 and 7,000 (maybe more) veterans from Morgan County or with Morgan County connections who should be remembered for their service."

"There have been a number of generous supporters, too many to name, but for some reason, so many others have not yet given to this project as we hope they will," Dillman said.

"The Piqua Monument and Granite Co. will be bringing more than 25,000 pounds of black granite to O'Neal Park in early August. The etchings of those historic battle scenes will take place on site over a two-week period," St. John said.

"If we have the money to complete Phase II of this beautiful memorial, we really need a lot of people to order commemorative bricks for their veteran loved ones. If people really appreciate our veterans, we are urging them to give some very generous donations," he added.

To order bricks or to give donations, you may contact Wayne or Margaret Dillman at (765) 342-9698.
 

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County officials, Veterans Memorial Committee members and Piqua Granite and Marble Company representatives gathered to welcome designers and etchers, Butch and Loren Bays from New Albany recently. Their etching team will use diamond point engraving and the project will take about four weeks. The Bays brothers said the Veterans Memorial Project was the greatest thing they'd ever seen and in the largest scale. Don Dotlich of Dotlich Crane will be setting the 6,000-lb. per piece monument. From left (front): Frans Hollanders, Martinsville City Police Chief; Mayor Shannon Buskirk, Don Dotlich, Butch and Loren Bays, John Piatt of Piqua Monument Co., and Steve Supinger, vice-president of Piqua. From left (back): Veterans Memorial Committee representatives Elmer Reynolds, Merrill St. John and Wayne Dillman.
 

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