Reflecting on their sacrifice

Ervin Ahlers reads the inscriptions on the back of the newly installed Remsen Veteran's Memorial in the Remsen cemetery Tuesday. Ahlers was one of the leaders pushing for the monument, which will be dedicated Sunday. [Click to enlarge]

A single stone soldier stands at salute.

Five black granite slabs, etched with veterans' names, mirror his reflection against the blue sky.

After years of planning and work, the Remsen Veteran's Memorial was put up Tuesday in the cemetery on the west edge of Remsen. It will be dedicated in a 1 p.m. Sunday ceremony.

This 6-foot statue, modeled after a modern day soldier, will stand in front of the Veteran's Memorial. [Click to enlarge]

The monument displays 660 soldiers names from the Civil War to the present war in Iraq.

"Eighteen of those were killed in action. We will be dedicating their flags Sunday," said Ervin Ahlers, who began and coordinated the efforts to create the Remsen Veteran's Memorial.

"We'll have a family member or representative carry each flag, then we'll fly them at posts around the memorial that day," he said.

Ahlers first suggested the idea of a veteran's memorial at a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) meeting in Remsen in March 2006.

"I thought it would be nice to have a memorial in Remsen," Ahlers said. "Everybody was for it."

He and Joel Fisch of Fisch Funeral Home in Remsen drove around to different memorials in the region to get ideas.

"We had an open meeting for anybody to come to try to get people involved," Ahlers said.

The idea caught on.

Donations came in from businesses and individuals. Local Option Sales Tax money was dedicated to the project. And people volunteered time and donated labor.

Then it came time to design the monument. The 6-foot gray granite soldier at the front weighs approximately 7,550 pounds.

"It's modeled after a soldier today with combat gear," said Dave Fisch, also of Fisch Funeral Home. Pictures used to carve the statue were actually taken of a local soldier in gear, he added.

The memorial's five black granite stones, etched on the front with veterans names and on the back with dates and histories of wars, weigh between 4,200 and 8,000 pounds.

The histories each have titles, like "War to end all wars" for World War I and "Urgent fury" for the Lebanon/Grenada fighting between 1982-84.

Some of the research for the histories came from visiting other monuments, especially Orange City's, Ahlers said.

"But we went with the dates we got from what the Veteran's Administration considers qualifying for veterans," Joel Fisch added.

The entire monument is set on a two-tone pentagon base.

People donated $100 for each veteran's name they wanted to have etched in the monument.

"There are room for more names," Ahlers said. "More names than I hope we ever see."

The granite came from India by ship.

"It takes three to four months, minimum, until it gets here to the U.S. factory for engraving and cutting," said Dave Fisch.

The arrival was delayed slightly when the stones were waiting to pass through customs at the docks, but finally arrived in Remsen in time for installation Tuesday and dedication this weekend.

World War II veteran Jim Beck, of Remsen, stopped by to watch the monument be erected.

His memories of wartime reveal that it was a harsh time.

"I was in Okinawa when they dropped the Atomic bomb," he said. "They needed to do it, otherwise (the rest of the war) would've been a bloodbath."

He was glad to see a memorial for all those who served.

"This is really going to be a great thing," he said. "Veterans deserve a lot of respect."

Ahlers, who served two years in the Korean War, noted that since his name starts with an "A," he's listed at the top of the Korean War veterans on the monument.

"I was the first one on guard, the first one on KP, now the first one here," he laughed.

But he said it was not for recognition that he and others worked to see this memorial become a reality for Remsen.

It was an act of patriotism.

"We've got to be proud of our country," Ahlers said.