A new committee is making its way in Dresden, with community members eager to get to work on establishing a veterans memorial in the town.
The Dresden Veterans Memorial Committee discussed its purpose and goals – including placement of a memorial, size, and landscaping work that would need to be completed – during its first meeting the evening of Monday, Oct. 21.
While nothing is set in stone, committee members said they are considering placing the memorial by the town office, at 534 Gardiner Road, or by the old town hall, at 391 Middle Road.
According to the committee’s charter, members need to design a memorial that “is compatible with the site chosen.”
Resident Allen Moeller said he will be donating his time and excavation equipment to the project. Additionally, he will work on clearing brush on the town properties the committee is considering for the placement of the memorial in the coming weeks.
“It won’t cost us anything for equipment whatsoever,” said Moeller.
Committee member Joe Wiley said he has thought about creating a veterans memorial in Dresden for roughly five years. According to Dresden Select Board member Lisa Hewitt, Wiley was not the only one that expressed interest in the project.
Nearly six months ago, the Dresden Recreation Committee requested a veterans memorial committee be under its supervision, said Hewitt. After objection from citizens and discussion by the select board, the board took a vote to have the veterans memorial committee be a standalone entity.
Hewitt and Wiley spoke about the committee roughly a month ago, and Wiley expressed interest in moving forward, so they worked together in gathering others for the project.
The select board drafted the committee’s charter and approved it during a meeting the evening of Oct. 8.
Now that the committee has gotten started, its six members are going to be researching other memorials in the area, as well as finding veterans from Dresden to be placed on the memorial.
“Most of the ones that I’ve seen basically list veterans that died on active duty by conflict,” said Wiley. “To me, that’s the most difficult thing we’re going to have to do.”
To start, the committee will be utilizing granite blocks that the town has leftover from other projects. In the future, committee Chair Shane Sours said newer granite pieces can be bought and shaped to add to the memorial.
“If we had granite to start with, all we have to do is etch it, maybe glaze it a little, and get it in the ground, and then we get some lighting that’s cheap enough to light it for nighttime. If we want a flagpole, that is not hard to come by,” Sours said.
Sours shared with committee members on Oct. 21 that sand from Iwo Jima could be place in the memorial, as he knows a veteran with sand from the Japanese island that he would like to have placed in a memorial.
“That’s something you’re never going to find again,” Sours said.
To accomplish its goal, the committee will conduct fundraising campaigns and accept donations to pay for the cost of the memorial.
“My hope is that enough veterans and people interested in town, that we can raise enough money for whatever we design … So that there would be no town appropriation,” said Wiley. “Whatever donations we get will be held by the town, and then the town will be responsible for the maintenance and the upkeep going forward, after we get it done.”
For more information, call the town office at 737-4335 or email Town Administrator Nicole Rogers at townadmin@dresdenme.org.
To donate to the committee, contact Cindy Moeller at 380-9798 or clmccrn@roadrunner.com.
