Dozens of veterans' names like these are etched into bricks in front of the Crawford County War Memorial.
All people who served this country.
A couple years back, the Veterans of the Vietnam War Jack Greer Memorial Post 52 began a brick campaign to revitalize the area around the monument in front of the Crawford County Courthouse across from Diamond Park.
"The reason we wanted to do this is the old pavers and lighting were going to shit," said campaign chair Phil Davis. The brick campaign is giving them the funds to start the revitalization project. Each brick are $100. All the money goes toward improvements to the area around the memorial.
so far, the money has allowed them to remove some tired old shrubs and replace the harsh base lighting with softer LED lights. "If you go by it at night, it's really great," Davis said.
The old pavers in front of the monument were recycled to their post headquarters a few miles away and replaced with bricks bearing the names of veterans.
The campaign continues and nameless bricks will be replaced by any donor brick as they come in. "We have over 500 bricks," Davis said. "We'll never replace them all in my lifetime," he said
The revitalization project also includes two new benches donated by the Meadville Lions Club.
If anyone wishes to honor someone who served, the requirements are the individual needed to be honorably discharged from the service. Honored veterans do not have to be from Crawford County. Each $100 brick can hold 3 lines of 13 characters, including spaces. Pavers sponsored by businesses and other organization sponsors have different costs.
Anyone interested in purchasing a brick can send a note to the Brick Memorial Project, PO Box 771, Meadville, PA 16335.
Eight & 322 is an online publication focused on telling stories of the communities in the northwest region of Pennsylvania. To subscribe to the Sunday Edition newsletter, email [email protected].