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Pawnee County Veteran's Memorial Dedicated Sunday

By Matthew Leaf

11/11/2013

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Cutting the ribbon for Pawnee County Veteran's Memorial, November 10, 2013

Pawnee County Veteran's Memorial, dedicated November 10, 2013

Pawnee County Veteran's Memorial

(KTNC)--Hundreds of people turned out Sunday afternoon to help dedicate Pawnee County’s new Veteran’s Memorial.
The memorial is located on the northwest lawn of the Pawnee County Courthouse. It consists of five granite walls. The names of veterans with ties to Pawnee County are engraved on four of the walls, and a fifth wall contains the names of service men and women who were killed in action.
The memorial also includes a walkway, granite benches, and the flags of the five branches of the U.S. military.
There were two keynote speakers during the hour-long dedication ceremony, retired Rear Admiral, and Nebraska native, Pierce Johnson, and Pawnee City High School graduate Barry Kennedy, who is now the president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
According to Veteran's Memorial Committee member Byford Schmit, there are 705 names on the memorial and they have room for about 125 more names before they’d have to add another wall, which he says they could do.
Schmit says most of the veterans listed have served since World War I, but there are also names of veterans going back to the American Revolution and one from the Indian wars.
To have a veteran’s name placed on the memorial, Schmit says to contact a member of the Veteran’s Memorial Committee. Committee members include Schmit, Dale Buman, Harold Schlender, George Lambert, Mike Korber, and Bob Miller.
Following the ceremony, Kennedy and Johnson cut the ribbon to officially mark the memorial’s completion.