Gov. Paul LePage has designated $10,000 from his contingency fund to support the building of the New Gloucester Veterans Monument.
According to a press release issued Thursday, the memorial is a joint project of the New Gloucester, Maine Historical Society and Lunn-Hunnewell AMVETS Post No. 6. The finished work will especially honor all New Gloucester veterans, those who served in times of war and those who served in times of peace.
“My wife and I cannot express enough our gratitude for our brave men and women who sacrificed for the sake of our freedom,” LePage said. “I commend the work of the community members, the engineers, the McCann family and the New Gloucester Veterans Committee for their cooperation in the construction of this very special memorial honoring New Gloucester residents.”
“We were overwhelmed, the whole committee, I mean,” said Bill Kiley of the New Gloucester Veterans Committee upon hearing the news of the funding. “We had a chicken barbeque to raise money; we fed 184. We told the crowd what the governor had done – $10,000 for the monument. Response was everything but a standing ovation. Well, actually there was a standing ovation. Without that [funding], we’d still be struggling.”
At this point, 1,142 names of New Gloucester veterans will be engraved on a set of granite tablets surrounding the centerpiece. Behind the arrangement of memorial stones will wave the American flag, the state of Maine flag, and the POW/MIA flag. Land for the memorial was donated by the McCann family on Route 100 in Upper Village.
“As the daughter and grand-daughter of Navy veterans, I am very pleased with the support Gov. LePage and first lady Ann LePage have shown to our military men and women, veterans and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our great country,” said Rep. Ellie Espling of New Gloucester. “Their support of the New Gloucester Veterans monument project is deeply appreciated. As a small town, we are humbled by this support for a project that means so much to us.”
Community volunteers have donated time, gravel, equipment and more. The New Gloucester Veterans Committee recently met with the engineers to get ready to prepare the ground.
To learn more about the project and how you can help, visit www.newgloucester.com and click on “New Gloucester Veterans Monument.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.