After more than 40 years, Nashville Memorial Day parade won't go by a veterans memorial
NASHVILLE - The Memorial Day parade in this village of about 200 people in Holmes County just won't be the same this year.
For the first time in years, the parade won't pass by a veterans memorial after kicking off at about 12:30 p.m. Monday, depending on when the West Holmes High School marching band, which has three earlier parades, arrives.
More: From Flanders to Georgia: How the red poppy flower became a Memorial Day symbol
Someone drove a vehicle into the original memorial in December, causing enough damage that it had to be torn down.
Mayor Dan Hiller said he and several others started planning for a new one shortly after that happened.
No one ever found out who drove into the memorial the late Ed Parsons put up more than 40 years ago.
"Nashville has one of the largest parades in the area and for the last 40-plus years we've had that veterans memorial standing at the square," HIller said. "Being a former Marine myself and having an abundance of veterans living in the village, it means a lot more to us than most having something to remember our fallen brothers and sisters."
For as long as he can remember, 62-year-old Craig Walkerow said, the village always has gone all out for Memorial Day, decorating the town with American flags and through other patriotic ways. That and many veterans living in and around the village are some of the reasons he believes the parade, which has had as many as 100 units in the past, always has been so popular.
That also is why Walkerow has high hopes the money can be raised for a new memorial. He said the State Highway Patrol wasn't even done investigating the hit-and-run crash and he already had received calls from people wanting to donate for a new one.
Though Walkerow isn't a veteran, his father was a Marine and he was mayor two different times for a total of almost 20 years between the 1980s and early 2000s, helping to keep the village's Memorial Day traditions strong.
As mayor, Walkerow said, the village always came through when funds were needed, so he hopes that will be the same this time, even though a new memorial will cost more than anything he helped raise money for in the past.
"The mayor came up with a plan and we're trying to help it become reality," said Walkerow about the group of residents working to bring back a veterans memorial.
Several businesses and individuals donated toward a new concrete pad for the proposed memorial
With the help of donated materials, equipment and labor, an 11- by 20-foot concrete pad has been built for a new monument at a different location just off the square near the village's welcome sign.
According to Hiller, those who made the concrete pad possible include:
Joel Menuez and Holmes Redimix for donating the concrete.
Keim Concrete Pumping for donating its equipment and labor to finish the pad.
Ogi Trucking and Excavating for its equipment and labor.
Troy and Kenny Miller for donating their time and labor to clean out the dirt where the new pad was poured and tearing down the old monument after it was destroyed.
The estimated cost for the new veterans memorial is roughly $50,000 for the granite, etching and setting the proposed three new monuments up on the new pad, said Hiller, who has made a sketch of three small structures with patriotic sayings he would like to see built.
One of the patriotic sayings will be "Dedicated to the memory of all veterans who served for peace and freedom forever" that was on a bronze plaque of the original sandstone and cinder block memorial, which was 10-feet long, 5-feet tall and 2-feet thick. The plan is to use the same bronze plaque.
Nashville needs to raise about $40,000 for a new veterans memorial
"Including the donations we have already received and of ones who said they would contribute, we're right around $10,000 so we're trying to come up with the other $40,000-plus to make this a reality," said the 39-year-old Hiller, who has been the mayor for a little more than two years.
In addition to some veterans organizations in Millersburg and Loudonville, as well as a few individuals who have donated, Hiller said, there hasn't been much public fundraising for the memorial yet. He said he hopes people not seeing one during this year's Memorial Day parade will donate so there can be a new one for the 2023 parade.
Hiller said donations can be mailed to the Village of Nashville at P.O. Box 417, Nashville, Ohio, 44661. They also can be dropped off or mailed to the Killbuck Savings Bank in Killbuck at P.O. Box 407, Killbuck, Ohio 44637.
"Any and all contributions are greatly appreciated and will be going toward a great cause," Hiller said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Nashville hoping to replace veterans memorial destroyed by a vehicle
