Published: May 11, 2009 06:50 pm      

Raising funds — 05/12/09

Cannonsburg Optimists have ambitious plans for memorial

If the efforts of members of the Cannonsburg Optimist Club are successful, the Boyd County War Memorial in Armco Park will look much different on Veteran’s Day on Nov, 11 than it does today. By then, the club hopes that a World War II mobile artillery unit now in Central Park will have been moved to the war memorial, and a replica Civil War cannon and bricks bearing the names of Boyd County veterans will have been placed at the memorial.

The club also hopes to add the names of the two Boyd County residents who have been killed in Iraq — Army Spc. Joey Cantrell of Westwood and Army Pfc. Scott Messer of Ashland — included on the memorial that now lists the names of a total of 258 Boyd County soldiers killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. That would be a fitting honor to these two fallen heroes.

“What we want to do is upgrade it, make it something we can be proud of,” said Optimist Club President Eulas Hayes of the club’s plans for the war memorial.

Don’t get Hayes wrong. The war memorial is long way from being an eyesore. The memorial has a beautiful, highly visible location on a hillside overlooking heavily traveled U.S. 60, and the Cannonsburg Optimist Club has done an excellent job caring for the memorial since assuming that responsibility a few years ago. The Optimists simply want to make the memorial even better.

Hayes, a sergeant in the U.S. Marines from 1954 to 1957, has a special affection for the memorial and has logged hundreds of volunteer hours caring for it. He placed the rocks that form the American flag at the memorial after seeing a similar flag design while on vacation.

The club already has added poles that fly the American and Kentucky flags and the flags of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard at the memorial. The club has renovated some of the concrete at the memorial and has ambitious plans for other improvements.

To raise money, the club is selling for $100 each commemorative bricks to be placed at the memorial. The bricks can be engraved with three lines of up to 15 letters each. At a place memorializing those who died in combat, the bricks provide an excellent way for friends and family to honor those who served honorably in the military and have gone on to become valued members of this community.

The club also has asked Boyd County Fiscal Court to contribute $12,000 to purchase the Civil War replica cannon for the war memorial. The court has taken the request under advisement.

With Veteran’s Day now less than six months away, the club has a lot of money to raise and much work to do to meet its self-imposed deadline for improving the war memorial. But we are certain club members think they can accomplish their ambitious task. After all, that’s why they are called Optimists.