Unusual War Memorial

Unusual War Memorial FARM HOME Miscellaneous 31-3-5 FARM SHOW writer C.F. Marley, who just turned 86 years old, is more involved in his local community than most people half his age. A decorated veteran of World War II, he recently was one of the movers and shakers in the establishment of an unusual war memorial in his hometown of Nokomis, Ill. "As far as we know, it's the only one of its kind in the country. We have attempted to list all local veterans from all wars our citizens have fought in," says Marley, who notes that most memorials commemorate just one war and list only those who were killed. "We already had memorials for WW I, WW II, Korea and Vietnam, which we combined together in one place. But I felt it was unfortunate that we had not included veterans of the Civil War. So we decided to start the research necessary to find the names of local Civil War vets and we found many more than we thought we would. Actually, we keep discovering new names from all the wars that need to be added to the stones. So we occasionally have the stone mason come out and etch them in." In honor of the new memorial, Marley and his fellow veterans also decided to restore an 1863 Civil War cannon. During their research they learned that when the Cival War vets held reunions in the late 1800's, they used to fire the locally-owned cannon. They decided it would be a great idea to fire the cannon again after more than 100 years. A new mounting was made, the barrel was cleaned out, and it was successfully fired three times. The cannon was then mounted permanently near the new gray stone monument engraved with the names of 315 local Civil War vets. "It's a very satisfying feeling to have completed this memorial in honor of the men and women who gave so much in defense of this great nation," says Marley.

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