368 names on monument with ties to city
By Jarod Wells
Monday, May 25, 2009 at 4:04 p.m.
Read more: Local, Community, Military
(West Point, Ia.) Hundreds of people showed up to honor veterans from the small town of West Point, Iowa on Memorial Day.A new Veteran's memorial placed in the southeast corner of West Point City Park was unveiled and dedicated as the rain continued to fall on May 25, 2009.
That park is located at the intersection of Highway X-23 and J-40 in West Point.
The memorial consists of an engraved black marble monument bearing the phrase "All gave some. Some gave all."
There are also eight similar but smaller monuments engraved with the names of 368 veterans with some connection to West Point.
A black marble star with the names of six people killed in action was placed in the middle of the memorial.
Veterans from World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam and the Iraq war are included in the memorial.
KHQA spoke with two members of the Veteran's Memorial Committee, both are also veterans.
"It represents any veteran in this West Point area that's ever wore a uniform," said Dick Harmeyer. "You dont't have to be dead, you can be on this thing alive or dead. If you wore a uniform you're a veteran."
"I travel all over the midwest. I drive a truck part time," said Larry Buchholz. "When you go through a city and you sit there and you see their memorials that they have for their veterans it shows you really how proud these cities are of t heir community to do things like this."
There is still room for 52 more names on the memorial. Veteran's Memorial Committee members plan to add new names to the monument each year on Memorial Day.
