MONSON, Maine — A special project that has been in the works for four years was unveiled in Monson on Memorial Day to remember those who have served their country.
“Monson sent over 140 people to the Civil War, as well as all the other wars, and those names will be forgotten if not put on a monument such as this. And they shouldn’t be,” Dawn Macpherson-Allen of the Monson Bicentennial Committee said.
Part of the town’s Memorial Day and bicentennial celebration included a ceremony for its new memorial.
The memorial has 659 names inscribed on it. The names include men and women who enlisted in the Monson area and residents who enlisted elsewhere and are buried in the town.
Estella and Wayne Bennett of Monson researched for over four years to find all the names that should be placed on the memorial. A majority of that work went toward finding Monson veterans that served during the Civil War.
By the time the memorial stood tall next to the Monson Community Church, it took close to $40,000 to get it there.
More than 100 donors made it all possible for the small town.
“When we started this project and saw how much we needed to raise, it seemed like an insurmountable task, but the way people stepped up and donated, it was just tremendous.” Glenn S. Poole from the Monson Historical Society said.
The names on the memorial include Monson’s veterans going back to the Civil War, up to the Gulf War.