August 14, 2014
The monument on the court house lawn to commemorate those from out county who lost their lives serving our country in the various wars was placed there in 1956.
When originally place there were 30 names of county servicemen who gave their life during WWI engraved in the granite, 118 WWII soldiers and 21 Korean War service men who gave the ultimate sacrifice. In 1969 there were 10 more names inscribed on the back representing the 10 area residents who died in the Vietnam War.
In recent years improvements have been made to the site with new landscaping and the addition of the American flag and flags representing the various branches of the military.
The County Commissioners have noticed the engraved names seem to be fading over the years. Earlier this summer Commissioner Kevin Overmyer, Randy Danielson from Johnson Danielson Funeral Home and a representative from South Bend monument took an up close look at the monument. It was determined at that time re-engraving the names could not be done. An alternative suggested was to paint in the names to make them stand out again.
Schoberg and Schoberg in Plymouth was contacted to look at the job. They determined they had the right person for it. An artist they knew had done similar work in Texas so the project got underway this week. Special monument paint is used but the tedious job of free-hand painting the names on the memorial takes some time. For the artist to keep her sanity she only works a few hours a day on the project. Schoberg and Schoberg estimated work will take about two weeks to complete.
Overmyer said as the looked at the monument earlier this summer they noticed that the top stone had moved substantially over the years. South Bend Monument will be coming this fall and lift the stone of the monument and reseal it and replace in on the monument.