Montana post’s leadership personally involved in crafting local veteran memorials.
In mid-May, as part of the American Legion Department of Montana’s membership revitalization weekend, Meagher County Post 25 in White Sulphur Springs invited other posts, districts and local veterans to an open house at a local brewery. On display was a photo collage of the post’s three recent veteran-memorial projects in and around White Sulphur Springs.
The oldest is the Wall of Honor in the meeting room of the Meagher County Library. On a tour after the open house, Post Commander Bill Cummins called it “quite an undertaking,” and he would know – a large portion of the crafting of the piece was done by Cummins himself, according to his wife Joanne. It took about six people to help move it to the library in October 2020. It was dedicated on June 12, 2021, and a sign outside the library calling attention to it was put up in August of that year.
Joanne used Excel spreadsheets to collect the names for the wall via research and public solicitation over two-and-a-half years. The wars memorialized go back before World War I; Bill said there are more names listed for the two world wars due to the county being more populated at that time – the ranches and farms needed more workers. There is space for more names on the wall, but “it’s not just about the future – it’s about right now,” he concluded.
Post 25 maintains a memorial site at local Mayn Cemetery with flags and spotlights. Dedicated on Memorial Day 2023 was a bench and a battle-cross statue, the latter ordered from Colorado and cast in Utah. A local rancher donated a stone, and Cummins and Post Adjutant Tony Perrone did the mounting. The new memorial is so up to date, it even includes a Space Force emblem.
“The community is very supportive of its veterans,” Perrone said, and came through with the costs needed for these projects – more than $17,000 between the 2023 Mayn installations and the newest, dedicated this Memorial Day: a military timeline memorial plaque. A 24x36 bronze high-relief carving carries a history of U.S. military action from World War I to today. And as with almost everything else in Montana, there is room for the site to grow.
- Honor & Remembrance