The Memorial Parks Advisory Committee has scheduled the dedication of the long-awaited fourth stone at the county’s Veterans Memorial on Veterans Day. The ceremony is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 11, during the service at the site, located in the county-operated Golden Belt Memorial Park north of Great Bend.
The observance will include musical selections and the dedication, said committee member Mick Lang.
“It’s been a long time coming,” he said. Although not in place yet, Lang said they expect to have the stone installed by the end of the week, and the item is on the County Commission agenda Wednesday morning.
The memorial honors veterans with Barton County ties who have served in all conflicts and in all branches of the military. Qualifications to be included are proof that the veteran was at least at one time a Barton County resident and received an honorable discharge from the military. The veteran can be living or deceased, and active-duty service members are also eligible.
Until now, it consisted of three stones engraved with those names.
The first two stones flank a center obelisk. In addition to the stones, there are flags representing the branches of service: Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy and Merchant Marines.
The third stone is staggered behind stone one. Number four will be behind number two.
The third stone was set in November 2018 and was dedicated on Veterans Day that year. The second stone was dedicated on Veterans Day in 2016, and the first stone on Veterans Day the year before. But, the project dates back to 2011 when the idea of a memorial was first raised.
Closed, for now
“We’re going to give it a rest for a bit,” said county Administrative Assistant Diana Watson, noting no more lines will be sold for the time being. “We may add stones down the road.”
It took a matter of years to get to fill the fourth stone, said Watson, who has spearheaded the memorial project. At $45 per line, 540 lines (representing about 370 veterans) had to be sold before each of the stones could be ordered.
“We’ve had a couple people come in and ask about it,” she said, but they had to turn them away. “I feel really bad for them.”
Back in 2016 the county, through its Facebook page, asked the public to sponsor memorial engravings for vets who no longer had family in the area. One soldier selected for this campaign was Roy Fruit Jr., the son of Great Bend Tribune owner Roy Fruit Sr., who enlisted in the Army to fight in World War II. Private First Class Fruit died on a French battlefield on July 14, 1944.
He is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and his grave is maintained by Jean Marc Lesueur, who has become an email pal with Watson. Fruit’s family conducted an internet search for information about Roy, and this also led them to contact Lesueur and ultimately, the Barton County Administrator’s Office.
Learning that Fruit was included on the County’s memorial, the family donated $250 for future engravings, Watson said.
In 2016, side one of stone four was purchased by the Hoisington VFW 7428 when it closed, and 200 lines were dedicated for veterans from Hoisington and that area, said County Works Director Darren Williams. To further offset the cost of the stone, another 60 were sold.
Background
Golden Belt Memorial Park, along with Hillcrest Memorial Park, are the only two cemeteries owned by the county. Originally privately owned, they were abandoned many years ago and, according to state statute, the county was required to take them over in perpetuity.
They are maintained by the Road and Bridge Department which is advised by the Memorial Parks Committee.
