OGDEN -- The effort Ogden's predecessors made toward erecting a permanent monument to honor Weber County's fallen World War I heroes was clear to those who worked to tear it down Thursday.
It took 40 minutes of men pounding one monument with sledge hammers to get the 6-inch-thick cement monument around the large bronze plaque to finally crumble.
"I told Bob (Geier) we really need these replaced before they just fall over," Jay Lowder, Ogden public services director, said as onlookers marveled at the strength of that monument.
A second monument came down relatively easily, and bystanders speculated that it likely had been the victim of some type of traffic accident because it came apart right at the base.
The workers from American Monument removed the two monuments that have, for nearly 90 years, welcomed visitors to Gold Star Drive, the extension of Madison Avenue into the Ogden City Cemetery.
The plaques that were attached to the monuments were taken away for refurbishing, repolishing and reoxidation. They will be remounted onto new granite monuments donated by American Monument.
The Weber County Heritage Foundation plans to have the new monuments with the old plaques back in place for a dedication on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
In addition, the foundation also plans to replace or refurbish 56 plaques at the foot of as many trees planted to honor the dead soldiers.
"The goal is to get them all back, make the place look good and show the world we're proud of our fallen," said Bob Geier, director of the Golden Hours Center and a member of the Weber County Heritage Foundation.
Geier said the monuments honor 52 fallen soldiers and speculated that more soldiers killed in the war must have been discovered after the memorials were built.
So far, about $6,300 and a host of in-kind donations have been raised for the effort.
Additionally, a Sept. 10 Ogden Home Tour is designed to help raise funds.
Geier said foundation supporters are hoping to raise $2,000 to $3,000 more to go toward the memorial through the home tour. Geier wants potential donors to know that their gifts are tax-deductible.
More information about the home tour is available at weber countyheritagefoundation.org.
Numerous businesses and individuals have contributed to the effort. Besides the foundation and American Monument, current donors to the project include Autoliv, Ogden Art Metal Co., Staker & Parson Co., a veterans group at the Golden Hours Senior Citizens Center and a handful of Eagle Scouts.
In addition to renewing the memorials and replacing the plaques, Geier also would like to replace two cannons that at one time each stood beside one of the memorials.
He said he has interviewed cemetery workers who go back 40 years and can't figure out where the cannons could have gone.
He hopes anyone who knows will come forward.
Future plans also are to replace a bronze statue of a World War I soldier that stands as a central attraction off Gold Star Drive.
"That poor statue," Geier said. "It's taken some shots over the years, literally."
Comments