Warren County will mark “Veterans’ Awareness Week” November 11-17, starting with a Veterans Day ceremony that will commemorate both the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I and the 20th anniversary of the Warren County War Memorial.
The Board of Chosen Freeholders issued a proclamation for Veterans Awareness Week and presented it to representatives of the Warren County War Memorial Corporation, Milly Rice and Leo Becker, whose organization will be hosting the county’s Veterans Day Ceremony on Sunday, November 11, at 1 p.m.
The event will take place at the Warren County War Memorial, which was dedicated on Veterans Day 1998, when hundreds of people gathered to witness the unveiling of the monument and to see names engraved on its stones of Warren County residents who died during wartime.
The three large, black granite stones at the center of the memorial plaza bear the names of those lost during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Two additional stones were dedicated in November 2006 for those lost in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Freeholder Director Edward J. Smith said he found it “particularly fitting” that the 20th anniversary of the county’s war memorial will be marked on the centennial anniversary of the end of a conflict which “at that time was, quote, ‘the war to end all wars.’ Unfortunately, we can show by the names inscribed on that how many more people did pass away.”
Freeholder Richard D. Gardner noted, “Many a time we think about the great memorials in our nation’s capital … sometimes we also forget how many folks from our little county have served and sacrificed.”
The Warren County War Memorial is located next to the Warren County Courthouse at the corner of Second and Mansfield Streets in Belvidere. The memorial stones are set on a brick plaza, surrounded by the nation’s flag and the flags of all branches of the military, landscape plantings, and stone benches. The county’s Purple Heart Memorial stands nearby.
“It’s a beautiful site, and it’s really a great memorial to our veterans who have given their lives for our country,” said Freeholder Jason J. Sarnoski. To the War Memorial Corporation representatives, Sarnoski said, “I thank you for all you do.”
The Veterans Day Ceremony is free and open to the public. Attendees are invited to bring a chair if they wish.
Be the first to comment on "Special Ceremony Begins County’s Veterans Awareness Week"