A few weeks ago Dan Lidster, who lives in Eastport and serves on the EMS ambulance crew, stood up at a Township meeting and got something off his chest. He’d been over to Lakeview Cemetery, and he thought the Veterans Memorial there was a disgrace. It was so small no one knew it was there. The grass wasn’t trimmed. The flag was faded. Township residents should do better than that. We needed a new monument. The Board heard him out, and told him to get a committee together and come back with a plan. They got some work done over at the cemetery, too, because by the time I went to look at the memorial it had been tidied up considerably.
Dan gave his plan some thought. The memorial ought to be where people could see it as they pass by on East Torch Lake Drive. It should be dignified and well maintained. It should be paid for by donations from the public rather than tax dollars. It should, he thought, honor all branches of the armed forces and the civilian emergency services as well (EMTs, firefighters and law enforcement personnel). Most important of all, it shouldn’t omit those who are still missing in action, or prisoners of war.
There should be a place to sit and think. It should be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. And wouldn’t it be nice, he thought, if it could be built from fieldstone that people contributed from their own land? Make a stone base for a sculpture–an eagle maybe.
He got a committee together: John Bennett, Harold Kruse, Loraine Mottern, Stan Dawson. They held a Public Input Session over at the Township Hall the other night. Jim Ribby recited some of the poetry that came out of the Civil War, and quoted the ancient instruction to build monuments so that the children will see them, and ask their parents to tell them the stories.
Dan’s son John showed a video he’d made of monuments from other communities. Mike Borkovich came over from Leelanau County to talk about the building of the Michigan Vietnam Memorial.
The committee scheduled another meeting for July 1 at the Township Hall. They’d like to know what you think of the idea of the new monument. What you think it should look like. What you think it should say. Dan hopes people will be willing to help raise funds to build it. You can see a photo of the eagle sculpture he likes at the Large Art Company website. You can walk out on your land and look for a good stone.
A lot of people in this Township have buried loved ones in Lakeview Cemetery. We have ancestors who fought in the Civil War, or Dads who served in World War II, or Moms who were combat nurses in Vietnam . . .
James S. Arnold, Co. D, 8th Michigan Infantry, Civil War. William J. Cobb, Spanish American War. Edward C. Ackerman, U.S. Army, World War I. Charles A. Sweet, Army Air Corps, World War II. (He and Jessie were married a week after Pearl Harbor.) Victor Cole, Coast Guard, Korea. John E. Kimball, Air Force, Vietnam . . .
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Elmer R. Johnson, U.S. Army, World War II, Bronze Star.
There are a lot more of them up there, flags fluttering over their graves. I wonder what they’d like. Mostly I think they’d like to know that grandchildren and great-grandchildren remembered them, or had heard great stories about them. They’d like to go down to the lake and sink a hook or take a swim. I don’t know. Maybe that’s just what I’d like. What about you? How would you like to be remembered?
Torch Lake Views 
Fee
June 27, 2010
What a fantastic idea – and I like the sound of the field stones being used. Keeps it “belonging to the community”.
We have little war memorials dotted all over the country – some for villages or towns, some for employees of firms, and even some schools have them for ex-pupils. There’s a lovely one in Princes Street Gardens, in central Edinburgh, called the Scottish-American War Memorial, which was paid for by Scots-Americans and erected in 1927.
Maybe most of all, the veterans remembered under these stones would like to know that we do remember them, and probably they’d like there to be no need for any new memorials.
Gerry
June 27, 2010
I like the fieldstones, too.
I was interested in the reference to the Scottish-American War Memorial, and found this information about it on the City of Edinburgh site:
A bronze seated kilted soldier on a low plinth with a rifle across his knees looking across to the castle. The figure and bas-relief were sculpted between 1924 and 1927 by Robert Tait Mackenzie (1867-1938) and cast at the Roman Bronze works in Brooklyn, New York.
Architect Reginald Fairlie designed the setting in Craigleith sandstone.
High on the wall are two intertwined wreaths containing shields, one bearing the Stars and Stripes and one with the cross of St Andrew.
Below this the long bronze bas-relief symbolising ‘the call to arms’ shows a cross-section of Scottish working men – miners, shepherds, farmers and fishermen – being led off to war by a regimental pipe and drum band.
Then I found a photo on Geograph.
This memorial, “The Call”, was erected in Princes Street Gardens in 1927, gifted by American Scots as a tribute to the bravery of Scottish troops during the 1914-1918 conflict. © Copyright Eileen Henderson and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Imagine my astonishment to discover that there is another Scottish-American memorial in Edinburgh–this one to the Scots who served as Union soldiers during the American Civil War. That is worth a post in itself. This is already the longest comment ever posted on Torch Lake Views, and possibly anywhere in the known world!
Fee
June 27, 2010
Oh dear. Did I send you off on another tangent? Okay, (hope this works, if not, just accept I’m technologically challenged!) here’s a link that’s maybe useful:
http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/
This is a website dedicated to Scotland’s many war memorials. I’m sure they know lots of useful info about both of these.
Gerry
June 27, 2010
Rascal. You know how distractable I am.
La Mirada Bob
June 29, 2010
Gerry, Your Mom & I must have seen at least one of the memorials. I will look at our slides and trip notes and keep this thread going.
Gerry
June 29, 2010
I will look forward to seeing what you come up with from your visit to Scotland.
Maryanne Jorgensen
June 29, 2010
Do you know what time the meeting will be held on July 1st?
Gerry
June 29, 2010
Hi, Maryann – It’s at 7:00 pm.
flandrumhill
July 1, 2010
In the long run, it’s all about the stories isn’t it? And whatever triggers that is a valuable tool to that end. Along the salt marsh trail here, there’s a bench with a memorial plaque on it, dedicated to a fallen soldier. It’s great to see these memory triggers integrated into the places we visit regularly in our daily lives.
Gerry
July 1, 2010
I suspect that bench will always touch the heart of anyone who passes. It’s hard to predict the effect a memorial will have in a distant future. There’s a Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the heart of downtown Detroit that is a familiar landmark to every Detroiter, and yet . . . no one really sees it anymore. It has become part of the landscape. Washington DC is full of memorials, yet only three deeply resonate for us as a people: the spare obelisk for George Washington, the brooding statue of Abraham Lincoln, and the black granite wall inscribed with name after name of Vietnam dead.