FORT JOHNSON – A pair of women are looking to repair or replace the Veteran’s Honor Roll in a local park.
Carole McClary and Darlene Roe held a meeting Monday at the village offices to try to gather support and donations for the project.
The honor roll sits in Nelson Swanker Park, named for a young soldier from the village who lost his life in the Vietnam War, listing the names of many of the village’s sons and daughters who served in the nation’s armed forces.
McClary said she first heard of the dilapidated condition of the honor roll while visiting a newsfeed on Facebook dedicated to folks who grew up in the village.
The first donation was realized when a man from Arizona with roots in the Mohawk Valley sent the first monetary donation dedicated to repairing the memorial.
The ladies said the best outcome from their efforts would be replacing the wooden structure with a granite one, but they noted the cost may be too prohibitive.
The second best outcome would be to renovate the existing structure in a manner that would better serve to protect it from the elements, they said.
They do not know how much either option will cost.
Roe said she believes the last time any work was done on the memorial was in the early 1990s.
Roe, who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the village, said she has received verbal support from several residents towards the project and intends to solicit support, both moral and monetary, from the mayor and Village Board on Thursday at its regular meeting.
Both women said they want to ensure all those who lived in the village when entering active duty in the armed forces are honored for their service.
Friends and relatives of those people are asked to submit copies of the DD214 (summary of service) or similar proof of service to be included in the honor roll.
Morey said she still has the qualifying data on hand for those who are already listed.
Anyone wishing to donate to the project, or has names to be included in the honor roll can submit them to: Village of Fort Johnson Honor Roll, P.O. Box 179, Fort Johnson, NY 12070.
There are tentative plans for fundraisers to be held in the future. The pair will hold another meeting Feb. 16 to try and garner more volunteers to the project, they said.
