I read with great interest the story on Cincinnati, and felt there was one more important place to visit there that has become well-known and special to our veteran community in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. As chairman of the Veterans Tribute Tower Committee, I had the great honor to tour the Verdin Bell Foundry in Cincinnati as they prepared our Veterans Tribute Tower for Beal Memorial Cemetery. We had them cast our 300 lb. Freedom Bell in our Florida coastal town on 9/11/2014. The newly cast bell was dedicated and rung for the first time by Navy veteran and Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The interest generated by the three-day casting process and dedication ceremony gave us the final push to completing the tower fundraising efforts. Thus our visit to the great folks at the Verdin Bell Foundry Company, located for over 150 years in the Over the Rhine District. With the help of our Legion Post 235 and many other like-minded groups, we will complete the dedication of the Veterans Tribute Tower this Memorial Day at Beal Memorial Cemetery . Over 1,600 veterans rest in this place, and families have already come to enjoy the reverent chiming of the Westminster Clock and the tower's message of remembering and honoring our veterans. All this with the help of the dedicated folks at Verdin Bell Foundry on Central Avenue in Cincinnati.

Tom Rice
Veterans Tribute Tower President
and proud member of American Legion Post 235
Fort Walton Beach, Fla.