Group seeking to honor veterans of ‘all wars’ at Wahlen nursing home
The George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home is pictured Friday, June 5, 2020.
This rendering shows an "All Wars" monument proposed to be built at the George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home.
OGDEN — A group of Weber County veterans are working to ensure soldiers of all stripes are honored at the George E. Wahlen Ogden Veterans Home.
Members of the Weber County Veterans Advisory Committee, the official military advising arm of the county government system, are trying to raise funds to build an “all wars” monument at the state-run Ogden veterans nursing home.
Terry Schow, an Ogden resident, Vietnam veteran and former head of the Utah Veterans Administration, said the monument would feature five 11-foot-tall granite spires — one for war veterans from each branch of the military: Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard. The cost of the structure, which would be built by Ogden’s Mark H. Bott Co., is about $26,000, Schow said.
The veterans advisory group hopes to procure some money from the county’s RAMP program and the Weber County Commissioner’s annual golf fundraiser. RAMP, which stands for recreation, arts, museums and parks, refers to the quarter-cent sales tax that Weber County residents first voted to install more than 15 years ago to help fund new and existing facilities as well as cultural organizations and events throughout the county.
Schow says even if the aforementioned funds are secured, public donations will likely be needed to erect the monument. The estimated price tag doesn’t include costs of foundation and cement work.
“We really feel like this would be a good way to honor all (war) veterans,” Schow said. “Frankly, some of the work put in by our service members of certain wars doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.”
Schow said there’s already a World War I monument at the Ogden Cemetery, and World War II and Vietnam have historically received plenty of attention. He said the Wahlen’s nursing home will be around when veterans from more recent wars in the Middle East need its services, so recognizing veterans of “all wars” is appropriate.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there was just under 15,000 veterans living in Weber County between 2012 and 2016. There was another 18,000 in Davis County, and even more scattered in smaller counties like Box Elder, Morgan, Cache and Rich.
The total number of veterans in the state is actually a matter of debate. The most current numbers from the Census Bureau show Utah’s veteran population to be around 144,000, serving every major U.S. conflict from World War II to the current ongoing war in Afghanistan. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says the state has around 152,000 veterans. And an independent Utah database, which uses the Utah Department of Information Technology and analyzes information from the Department of Workforce Services and the Utah Drivers License Division, shows the state has approximately 180,000 veterans.
Roy resident John Cole is not part of the group working to build the monument, but the 93-year-old Marine says he backs the effort. Cole saw extensive combat during the Korean War. Due to its place in the U.S. war chronology — sandwiched between World War II and Vietnam — the Korean conflict is often called the “Forgotten War” or the “Unknown War.”
“It is true that some wars are better received than others and some get more limelight,” Cole said. “But a war is a war. Pretty simple.”
Schow said donations for the monument can be sent to Weber County Veterans Advisory Committee, c/o Veterans Memorial, 2380 Washington Blvd, Suite 360, Ogden, UT 84401.