BRUNSWICK — In a private ceremony on Wednesday, local officials, veterans and military leaders celebrated the official opening and dedication of a Veterans Plaza honoring all who have served, marking the culmination of more than a decade of work.
What started as an idea for a purple heart monument on the Brunswick Mall, proposed by local veterans Gil Ormsby and Chick Ciciotte, both of whom have since passed, quickly grew into an entire plaza honoring not just those who were wounded or who served in combat, but every person who took an oath to protect the United States.
“On this day and with this plaza, we recognize all who have served their country,” said Roger Stevens, committee member and commander of Maine District 7 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“The veterans plaza is not a memorial to war,” he said. “It is a memorial to all veterans who have served … not everyone who serves in the armed forces becomes involved in conflict but everyone takes the same oath to preserve and defend our freedom and constitution. Everyone trains and prepares to answer the call to defend if necessary. The veterans plaza is a fitting tribute to those whose patriotism, commitment and sacrifice allow us to be here today in the greatest country in the world.”
David Watson, commander of the American Legion Post 20 and Brunswick town councilor, said Wednesday that he was honored that Ormsby and Ciciotte selected him to “shepherd the growth of what has become the Veterans Plaza, a mission that honors US veterans from 1775 to present.
“For the love of those who stood to make our country and all the generations that have stood since to maintain the Republic that is the United States,” Watson said.
The $500,000 veterans plaza is designed to honor all veterans who have served the United States, regardless of rank, conflict, status or branch, and includes the Merchant Marines.
The design includes 439 engraved granite “honor blocks” honoring specific veterans with their names, branch and dates of service or conflict fought in, but not their rank.
This latter element, according to Tom Farrell, committee member and director of Parks and Recreation, was included at the behest of the veterans themselves and became one of the most significant features of the plaza — that it recognizes all veterans equally.
The new monument also incorporates the existing downtown monument, which has been turned 180 degrees, as well as a separately funded purple heart monument. Twelve sentinel posts surrounding the plaza represent the 12 recognized major American conflicts spanning from the American Revolution through the Global War on Terror.
It will, according to Douglas Farnham, Adjutant General of the Maine National Guard, inspire the next generation of veterans “who when duty calls, will defend America.”
“They’re here,” he said. “They’re in Brunswick and Topsham and Harpswell. They’re in Maine and they will be motivated to serve by the fact that this community made this special effort to honor those who have gone before.”
The conceptual design was done by the Richardson and Associates, the architects of Brunswick’s General Joshua Chamberlain Statue and Memorial.
Construction started on the plaza in mid-August.
The plaza was originally slated to open last Veterans Day, but high prices and labor shortages in the construction field pushed the date back by a year.
The plaza initially carried a roughly $250,000 price tag, which was raised to $320,000 last year due to changes in the construction market. Organizers admitted from the get-go that their fundraising goals were aggressive, but recently said they hope to raise $500,000 to help maintain the monument in perpetuity. Organizers said earlier this week that so far, about $517,000 have been raised. In December the committee plans to go before the town council to establish an official maintenance trust.
It’s not about politics,” said Gretchen Evans, retired Army Command Sgt. Major and keynote speaker, “it’s not about oil, it’s not about any of those things for us… it’s about the address that’s on our driver’s license. It’s about our home address.”
“I’m so incredibly proud to live in a town that values their veterans the way that Brunswick does, that we built a beautiful memorial for us to be able to go to and to reflect and to remember, to seek peace and some solace.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
