Minco Veterans Memorial

The Minco Veterans Memorial started as an idea of Post 215 and Auxiliary Unit 215 to expand the community gathering area on the Post's land next to Post in downtown Minco, Oklahoma. A gazebo joined the picnic tables under the large tree at the south end of the lot. In the photos showing the front of the memorial, taken from the north looking south, the original Post 215 is on the right of the photo or west. A new gazebo is in the left background. The original tree is in the right background. The original flagpole was added by the Minco High School students in 1945 along the sidewalk with a native red granite stone inscribed "Honoring our Servicemen." The post and unit added flowers and the students helped maintain the flower beds along the sidewalk over the years and the impromptu "Veterans' Park" remained a gathering place even as the population decreased and Post moved its meetings to another location. In 2006, in advance of Oklahoma's Centennial, American Legion Post 215 and the Oklahoma Centennial Commission expanded the Memorial Park with the addition of additional flagpoles sponsored by local businesses and a foundation to fly the flags of each of the military branches. [The photos were taken just before dusk and just after a t-storm, so all of the flags had been taken down.] The renovation also included the installation of the gray granite columns listing each Minco resident who had served in the wartime from World War I through the continuing War on Terrorism. A new gazebo was also built. The newly renovated Memorial was re-dedicated in 2007.