A star shaped memorial tablet of black granite, engraved with 323 heroic names of soldiers, sailors, marines and nurses from Lucas County Ohio, will be set near the Veterans Tower at Toledo Memorial Park. These men and women who gave up their lives for their county during WWI now have a permanent forever place.
In the early 1920’s a tree was planted in memory of these brave men and women and a bronze marker was set at the foot of every tree. Over 300 trees and markers lined the 2.5 miles of Memorial Way and throughout the cemetery, paying tribute to the over 300 men and women. Decades later most of the bronze markers became overcome by the growing trees.
Benjamin Gerken, of the Grounds Crew at Toledo Memorial Park, noticed some of the dilapidated markers. After months of researching and help from a woman in our office and Boyd Montgomery, a Board Member at Toledo Memorial Park, he was able to find the original newspaper clipping from 1926 detailing the events.
He then set out to rescue all of the markers, which in some cases took digging, jack hammering, and metal detecting to find and recover.
We will be dedicating the memorial November 11th 2018 @ 11am, symbolizing the end of WWI 100 years ago on November 11, 1918.
More Details to Follow....
October 2018