(Decatur County, IN) – The Decatur County Community Foundation recently presented the American Legion with a $3,000 check to help purchase memorial crosses for the annual Memorial Day ceremony at South Park Cemetery.
The memorial crosses represent each battle that American soldiers have fought, starting with the American Revolutionary War. Each year, volunteers display the crosses just a few days before Memorial Day. The day of the formal Memorial Day ceremony, a commemorative wreath is hung on each cross. The cross and wreath remain out to honor fallen veterans until a week later, when volunteers remove the symbols and carefully store them away for the next year.
“Those crosses are about 30 years old,” explained American Legion volunteer Russell Wilhoit. “We’ve repaired them several times over the years, but the time has finally come to replace them. We are grateful to the Foundation for helping with the new crosses.”
DCCF offered a matching challenge to help with the project. The American Legion raised $3,000 through its own efforts, and the Foundation matched the funds through the Ella Jo Briggs Veterans Field of Interest Fund.
“It took no time at all to raise the initial $3,000 for the project,” noted American Legion volunteer Joe Crank. “We had 23 individual donors and raised the money almost immediately.” The Legion recently received the matching dollars from the Foundation to complete the project’s cost.
Crank and volunteers Wilhoit, Ron Eineman, and Don Bultman are primarily responsible for initiating the project. They are the same volunteers who place the crosses at the Veterans Circle each year. The group is always looking for additional volunteers to help.
To learn more about the Veterans Cross project, contact the American Legion at (812) 663-2199. To learn more about the Foundation or the Ella Jo Briggs Veterans Field of Interest Fund, contact the Foundation at (812) 662-6364.
(Decatur County Community Foundation press release)
