Litchfield Illinois

UPDATE ON MEMORIAL

(5/12/08) This years Memorial Day services scheduled for 10 A.M. on May 26th, 2008. The service will be at Litchfield Veterans Memorial Garden. Guest speaker will be Bill Baron , a Vietnam veterans with decorated service with the U.S. Rangers. We also have the High School Band that will play patriotic music before and during the service. The High School Choirs under the direction of Lynn Taylor will sing the National Anthem and God Bless America. Veteran Color Guards from the Legion and the VFW along with the Rifle Squad with members from the AMVETS. We are asking those who plan to attend to please bring lawn chairs.

Previous Updates:

(10/2/07) How could we ever forget the most wonderful Memorial Dedication date in Litchfield held on May 28, 2007, and the words of the Master of Ceremony Walter ‘Chick ‘Bishop “this is Litchfield’s Finest Hour.” The ceremony went exceptionally well as planned with a very large crowd of over 1200 in attendance. The rain held off till after a ‘war dead salute’ a 21 gun salute, and taps was played. The memorial site was then officially open to the public for viewing. This was the completion of 18 months of preparation. The committee had devoted several hundred hours in meetings and discussions to get to this point. Bills have all been paid and the committee is now raising fund for perpetual care. At this date $15,000.00 is now ready to turn over to a committee that is scheduled to be formed in the following weeks. The etching of 89 more names will be added to the memorial by Veterans Day November 11, 2007 and on Memorial Day each year more names will be added. John Farmer from VFW Post 3912 is the project officer for the Veterans Day ceremony this year. Guest speaker will be Navy Captain Andy Richy, US Navy Ret., and also our community City Administrator. The American Legion and the AMVETS will also be active in the Veterans Day service. The Litchfield Veterans Memorial Committee is most grateful to Bill Morgan and WAM Computers for the assistance given our group for establishing a web site and listing names on the memorial. We are especially thankful to Bunny Sies for her assistance in sending searching and sending forth names to WAM and to Adams Memorial. She was most helpful to the committee in reaching our goal. We would also like to thank all those who contributed money, labor, and other services to make this project possible. We are thankful to the news media for the excellent support in providing coverage of all aspects of the planning , design, and work on the memorial. For those who want a souvenir of the memorial a professionally prepared DVD is available from Dale Bishop , phone 217 324 5679. A portion of the sales on the DVD will go back to the memorial fund for perpetual care.

(5/14/07) As we near completion day on the Litchfield Veterans Memorial Garden and as the finishing work completed on the entrance way and the sidewalks, the committee wants to thank all those who have helped, whether you gave of your time or a gift of money, the generous display of support of the project was overwhelming. On May 16th the Memorial Stones are to be placed on their supports on the walkway by the Adams Memorial company at 10 AM. Some landscaping has been done and more is planned as well as planting shrubbery and trees within a few days of the installation of the stones. The committee assures the public that we will meet the May 28th deadline and will be holding Dedication on schedule. A program book has been sent to the printers and will be available to those attending the dedication. A guest speaker is coming from Scott Field as well as an Honor Guard . The Civil Air Patrol, The American Legion and the VFW Honor Guards will also be present that day for posting of colors. The committee extends out a warm invitation for all to attend this most historic event in Litchfield.. Those attending are asked to bring lawn chairs , as seating is limited.

(3/27/07) As we get nearer and nearer to the dedication date, the committee feels it is time to update the site and let everyone know what is going on with our plans. First of all we have had good luck in our fund drives. Our citizens have been most generous in supporting the memorial fund. We are at approximately 110,000.00 dollars of our $120,000 dollar goal. In the past couple weeks, VFW Post 3912 has made a couple generous donations, the most recent one for $500.00 from the Sausage/Pancake breakfast, and now they are preparing a steak dinner/dance event for April 7^th with all profits going to the memorial fund. The local chapter of the Epsilon Sigma Alpha group donated $1000.00 to the Veterans Memorial from proceeds from their recent book sale event at the HE Nursery on Old Route 66 North in Litchfield. This presentation was made at LLCC on March 26^th just prior to the weekly meeting of the Veterans Memorial committee. A generous donation recently came from the Litchfield Chamber of Commerce at their annual dinner. Scheduled for Saturday March 30^th, the Kruse family is making a donation of another $1000.00 to the committee in memory of Rusty Kruse.

Committee members Susan Griffin, Will Tackaberry and Dorothy Mansholt were interviewed on the Air of Radio Station WSMI this past week explaining where we are in our memorial plans. We explained how grateful we were to the citizens of our community that have donated and the work that has been done by many volunteers.

On March 17^th, a large group turned out to clean up the library grounds of broken limbs, leaves and other lawn wastes to make ready for landscaping and the placement of foundations for the memorial stones that we will see happen in the next few weeks.

Ray Kellenberger assigned a sub committee to plan for the dedication ceremony. Serving on this sub committee are Susan Griffin, Will Tackaberry and Chick Bishop who has been appointed to serve as the Master of Ceremony at the dedication. The search is still on for a Medal of Honor recipient to be the Guest Speaker. The proper paperwork has been cleared through the Department of Defense and the FAA for a military fly over. Word is awaiting from two military fighter units, the Missouri Air Guard at Lambert Field and the Illinois Air Guard fighter wing at Capitol Airport in Springfield Illinois. Invitation letters have been sent out to area wide elected officials, veteran organizations and military bases from around the central Illinois area. We have asked for military vehicles , static displays, color guards, military recruiters, etc. At the Memorial Day dedication we are planning on having a local citizen and former World War 11 POW Mr Bill Whitlock lead everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance and Sandy Leitheiser will sing the National Anthem. The entire Litchfield High School band will be performing patriotic music prior to the opening ceremony and after the dedication. A war dead salute will be performed with a gun salute and playing of Taps.

(1/24/07) As we get very close to developing the final plans for the Litchfield Veterans Memorial Garden the committee is holding two meetings per month to fine tune the design plans. Extra effort went into the three entry points for the memorial and that being corner of Union Ave and Monroe street, the center location and that being in the middle of Monroe street between union and Kirkam street and the other on the corner of Monroe and Kirkham street. In the center entry point will be a large flag pole with two large entry Stones. The one on left of the pole will be memorial name, the one on the right will display the military logos for all services. The stones on both corners will be memorial entrance signs leading up to the walkway through the memorial. Benches and lighting items have been approved and will be placed on order. Jim Ostermann is working with David Lipe in final designs and preparations for the immediate development work to begin in preparation for the laying of the stones in early March. Will Tackaberry, chairman of the name search committee along with Bunny Sies have finished the proofreading of the listing of names that will go on the memorial stones. These names have been submitted to Adams Memorial. Names were published in area wide newspapers and spelling corrections and additions were made before they were sent to the memorial company. A trip is planned by Tackaberry and Sies to the memorial company to see that names will be etched as we have planned on each stone by war eras. When the company makes its draft, we will again proof read the listing before etching begins. This should begin in early February.

Fundraising: Susan Griffin, Chair of the Fundraising Committee, and Dorothy Mansholt, Committee Treasurer, have done an excellent job in raising funds for the Memorial. The budget for the Memorial is $120,000. There will be $20,000 set aside for perpetual care and other expenses after the Memorial has been erected. Here is what Susan Griffin had to say about the donations: "The citizens of Litchfield have been very generous in giving to the Veterans’ Memorial Garden project. Fundraising efforts began in the Spring of 2006. The original budget for the project was $120,000. As of January of 2007, just under $103,000 has been raised. The support for the Memorial is heartwarming. Areas of financial support have come from community grants and trusts; community organizations; veterans’ organizations; business and corporate gifts; banks and savings and loans; fund raising events; sentimental gifts; and individual gifts in response to a mailing to every household in Litchfield. Additional financial support is needed to complete the project."

The next event planned to support the Memorial is the Epsilon Sigma Alpha Book Sale on February 10, 2007 beginning at 8:00 a.m. at 1200 Old Route 66 North in Litchfield. One half of the proceeds will be directed to the Veterans Memorial Garden. Another spring event is being planned by the AmVets.

The committee is planning on a military Medal of Honor recipient to be the guest speaker at the formal memorial dedication schedule for May 28th, 2007 (Memorial Day). Will Tackaberry is conducting a search for an individual as well as a military F15 fly-over for our dedication. One of the places he is consulting with is the 131st Fighter Wing at Lambert Field with their F15 fighter jets. Ray Kellenberger, chairman of the Memorial Committee and member Bill Rogers have been busy with distributing canisters and working on development plans and the search for volunteer services from labor groups. Ray is also working on final plans for the dedication, and the Memorial Day service that will follow. Each committee member has Been very active in all aspects of the project. John Galer has performed an outstanding service in public awareness through his support of publicity for the committee. It has been very helpful in obtaining veterans names for the memorial. Both the Litchfield News Herald and the Hillsboro Journal are to be congratulated for their support. The committee is most grateful for the office staff at the County Recorders office under the direction of Sandy Leitheiser. Nancy Black in her office has been most helpful in working with our name search committee in filing Of DD214’s and Military Discharge papers of our veterans.

In this update our committee would like everyone to know that the committee has been very involved in fund raising, choosing stones and entranceway items for the memorial. Besides fund raising the search sub committee headed by Will Tackaberry and volunteer Bunny Sies has now provided over 2200 names for the Memorial. The search is continuing on with expectations of having over 3000 names eventually. Area churches have been contacted, Newspaper articles have been searched out , and registration booths have been set up in area wide community events. Concerning the fund raising efforts, Ray Kellenberger, Committee chairman has been involved with several 50/50 drawings , bingo games, and other ventures in obtaining donations. Dorothy Mansholt and Susan Griffin has been actively soliciting donations from some organizations , businesses, and others on a one on one basis to obtain some larger donations. Jim Osterman has been busy working with the design and talking with a potential developer with the site plans. Bill Rogers has worked behind the scenes in helping get veteran organizations to donate. He was instrumental in getting some very generous donations from the Legion, the sons of the legion, and the ladies auxiliary. He has worked diligently on 50-50 drawings to also raise money. He put in a lot of efforts in the ground breaking ceremony too. John Gailer has kept the public well advised with news releases and media coverage. John also made the trip to Adams Monument company in Charleston to view the stones along with all of the other committee members. He saw that the public was well informed of the Ground Breaking ceremony on September 24^th. The committee and the Legion Color Guard reviewed some very generous donations from Terry and Vanessa Plummer at the ground breaking ceremony.

As we moved into October, the Amvets Post 16 came through with flying colors in a fund raising event that brought over $5000.00 in donations from their auction held on Sunday October 8^th. Music was provide for the community event, a large auction was held with donated items from several area businesses and individuals. Dianne Odle spearheaded this event for the AMVETS Post. At the opening ceremony at the auction Dorothy Mansholt talked to the large group who had came out for the auction about the plans for the memorial and also read some of the letters she had received with donations in letters. She asked that organizations give as much as they can to help this vision become a reality. In honoring our community veterans. The dedication date for the memorial has been set for May 28^th (Memorial Day). Efforts are being made to turn over the list of names to Adams monument company by January 1^st, 2007. /The search committee will publicize the names in newspapers on or about Veterans Day. . It is hoped that the residents will check this listing and bring to the attention to those working on the names any errors in spelling s of names or the omission of names… The committee is asking those who have not registered their DD 214’s or their Honorable Discharge records with the County Recorder office at the old Court House in Hillsboro. Please do this as soon as possible in order to get their names entered on the memorial.

Plans to create a veterans memorial on the east side of library park between the diagonal sidewalks has now been approved by the city council. All trees and the brick wall structure will remain. Seven foot high granite monoliths set in an arc will bear the names of military veterans. The monoliths will be set perpendicular to the arc with those who served in WW-1 in the north end followed by WW11, Korean, Vietnam, Gulf War, and those who are presently serving in the military and future veterans at the south end. A walkway around and through the monoliths with benches between the eras will provide a contemplative setting.

Enhancing the garden will be seven sided fountain located on the apex of the lower arch and entrance to the garden. At the North and South end corners will be signs stating the presence of the memorial.

Architect David Lipe from Nokomis speaking before the council members said “ I believe the set back from the curb will be large enough to accommodate ceremonies of various kinds such as those held on Memorial Days and Veterans Day. .” Lipe went over in detail all of the present plans developed by the veterans memorial committee to the Mayor and council members, and was available to answer any questions about the design.

The memorial committee also submitted plans for the maintenance of the garden. Plants to be used in the landscaping have yet to be determined.

Calling the plans ’unique’ , aldermen and the mayor agreed with the concept. The Litchfield veterans committee will meet on Wednesday August 2^nd , 2006 to proceed with plans for an aggressive fund drive and to move into high gear to acquire a contractor and to proceed with the plans in the direction of getting the development completed by Memorial Day 2007.

It's official, the east side of Library Park in downtown Litchfield will be the site for the new Litchfield Veterans Memorial.

Members of the planning committee and the City of Litchfield approved the selected site.

"Library Park belongs to all of the residents of Litchfield," said Dorothy Mansholt, committee treasurer. "We are grateful to the City of Litchfield in helping us continue our plans for a fitting tribute to our veterans."

A site survey of Library Park was just recently completed for use by the city, and will be used to work the memorial planning.

Self-employed architect David Lipe of Nokomis has been commissioned by the committee to prepare several site plans for the memorial. He plans to have preliminary drawings available within a couple of weeks.

Ray Kellenberger, committee chairman, noted that he hopes to get approval from the city after finalizing the memorial plans within the next few weeks.

Donations for the memorial may be sent to Litchfield Veterans Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 593, Litchfield, IL 62056.

The committee will utilize volunteers to host a 50/50 fund raiser this weekend during the Route 66 Classic Car Show, from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. The winner will be announced on Sunday morning. Proceeds will go exclusively to development of the memorial.