Pleasant View holds ribbon-cutting ceremony for new veterans monument
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- The Pleasant View veterans monument, photographed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- The flag of the U.S. Navy is raised during a ribbon-cutting for Pleasant View’s veterans monument Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- The Pleasant View veterans monument, photographed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, May 17, 2024.
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- Pleasant View mayor Leonard Call addresses the crowd at a ribbon cutting for the city’s veterans monument Friday, May 17, 2024.
PLEASANT VIEW -- A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Friday for a veterans monument that has been installed outside of the Pleasant View City Building.
The monument serves to honor former and current citizens of Pleasant View who have or are currently serving in one of the U.S. military's six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Space Force.
"A member of our community, Christy Bailey, and her husband had this idea and approached me with it five years ago," Pleasant View mayor Leonard Call told the Standard-Examiner.
Over the years that ensued, city staffers brainstormed and even visited monuments in other regional cities in an effort to discern the best way to honor their veterans. Ultimately, the Calls, Baileys and a city committee collaborated in designing a monument unique to Pleasant View.
The end result was a semicircle of six black granite plaques -- each corresponding to a service branch -- for the names of the city's veterans. Each plaque is joined by a flagpole supporting the corresponding branch's banner.
At the center of the semicircle is a clock -- donated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- that formerly rested on temple grounds in downtown Ogden.
"It's just a wonderful way to remember and to look forward to those that are going to serve in the future and to support those veterans that have served our city and our country," Call said.
"It was a wonderful idea, and to see what's come out of it -- every time I look at it, it's just breathtaking."
The groundbreaking for the monument project occurred in 2021, and construction occurred incrementally thereafter. Meanwhile, meticulous research was done to compile the list of names that have been engraved upon the granite.
Moving forward, veterans who have lived in Pleasant View will be eligible to have their names added after an application and vetting process. However, one notable exception is being made.
During Thursday's ceremony, Call proclaimed Christy Bailey's late father, a World War II veteran who did not live in the city, would become an honorary citizen of Pleasant View, qualifying him for inclusion on the monument. Bailey was overcome with emotion as the proclamation was made.
Speakers at the ribbon-cutting included Call, Christy and Kevin Bailey, state Rep. Ryan Wilcox and retired USAF Brig. Gen. Max Stitzer.