photo credit: Lilly Wood
There are 666,320 veterans who live in Ohio. That’s 7.3 percent of Ohio’s adult population, according to veteransdata.info.
In order to honor this percentage of the population and increase awareness, Orange Township decided to build a public veterans memorial just down the road from the high school at the corner of Old State and Orange Road. An opening ceremony for the memorial took place on Sept. 5.
“I’m super proud to have a memorial to all of our veterans in Orange Township and all of these people who sacrificed their life for our country in order to make us free,” Orange Township Trustee Chair Lisa Knapp said.
Intervention Specialist Terence McDermott served in the army for 4 years in the 82nd Airborne Division. He was in charge of military night at the football games for several years.
“It’s an honor that they built it, we used to do a lot of military events here, and it’s an honor to have that and it makes us feel appreciated as a veteran myself,” McDermott said.
The idea for the memorial has a long history. According to Knapp, the idea started “back in 2013 when the trustee at the time had an idea for it so then it just kind of proceeded from there.”
The memorial itself has many different aspects and features that stick out like a giant star on the ground in the middle of the memorial and different flags surrounding it.
“My favorite part about the memorial is how close it is to me, as I can take less than five minutes to drive there,” junior Nithil Karthik said.
“I like the whole thing, but I like how they have flags for each military branch because it honors everything,” McDermott said.
Although the memorial itself is impressive, more plans may be in the works. Regarding future plans, Knapp said, “We’re looking at different options, but there’s nothing concrete yet, but we might develop the rest of the property.”
While the memorial honors the veterans, it would be even better if there was also an exhibit to educate people about the veterans.
“Freedom is not free, and we’re one generation away from not having it. It allows people to understand the sacrifices that have been made by men and women who have served their country,” McDermott said.
“The memorial could improve by having a separate building detailing history which could serve as a mini museum,” Karthik said.
Orange Township’s website also provides various pieces of information about the memorial. According to orangetwp.org, the memorial in the future will be used for “public activities supporting veterans, such as flag raising ceremonies, class field trips and other veteran activities.”
The website also provides pictures of the construction of the memorial so residents can see how it started and how far it came to look like what it does today.
On Sept. 5, there was an event at the memorial to celebrate its dedication, like its official kick off.
The memorial is a very positive thing for Orange Township. It honors veterans while also making people aware of the work that veterans put in for all Americans so that they can live freely.
“I feel like the memorial highlights an important part of our community, as our veterans are people that should be well respected and are very important to us,” Karthik said.
