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Community Corner

Verona, Oakmont and Plum Honor Those Who've Served With Memorials

Memorials dating as far back as the Civil War are sprinkled throughout our communities.

Every Memorial Day Americans are encouraged to honor the service and courage of our military and remember those lost fighting for our freedom. The communities of Verona, Oakmont and Plum honor these heroes every day with special monuments and memorials around town that pay tribute to locals who have served and currently are serving.

“The memorials are an integral part of our community,” Rhoda Worf, Verona council member, said. “It’s important to remember those who fought for our freedom.”

Worf cites the “Verona Doughboy” as the most famous tribute in Verona.

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Doughboy, or Spirit of The American Doughboy, statues are life-sized replicas of sculptor Ernest Moore Viquesney’s original commemorating World War I soldiers, according to the Viquesney Doughboy Database website.

The statue in Verona, which was dedicated in 1952, used to sit between the two large plaques at the corner of Allegheny River Boulevard and Lamagna Drive; however, it was replaced by a monument topped with an eagle after the beloved statue fell in 2007. The Doughboy currently is being repaired by the Verona maintenance department.

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The base the Doughboy and its replacement is dedicated “for all who served” in every branch of the military. The plaques are “dedicated in sincere tribute to the living and the dead of Verona, Pa.” and “a tribute from the people of Verona to the boys and girls who answered the country’s call in the World War, 1917-1919.”

Local residents who served in World War I are listed on the Roll of Honor on one plaque, and bricks inscribed with names of servicemen also line the memorial area, which was completed in 1964.

Across the street, a new memorial area was created and outfitted with a canon and a stone memorial dedicated to “the men and women of Verona who helped preserve the freedoms of humanity for all ages to come.”

Also nearby is a mural of several different people representing each military branch.

“We’re very proud of that area,” Worf said of the well-kept war memorial area.

The Oakmont-Verona Cemetery is the home of the Oakmont-Verona Veterans Monument, which was erected in 1915 “in honor of the brave men or this vicinity who offered their lives in defense of their country and sacred to their memory.” It’s dated for the Civil War, 1861-1865. The monument is topped with a Civil War soldier who seems to be proudly watching over the veterans who were laid to rest in the cemetery.

Near the large Veterans Monument, sit a small cannon surrounded by graves of Civil War soldiers. The cannon’s inscription indicates it was erected in 1883 by the Charles R. Bright  Grand Army of the Republic Post 360. The G.A.R. was an organization of veterans of the Union Army who served in the Civil War.

Bright Cemetery on Fourth Street in Oakmont has six markers for Civil War soldiers that are maintained by the Oakmont American Legion Post 600.

A war memorial dedicated to “the men and women of Oakmont who served our nation in war and peace” sits on the Oakmont Carnegie Library grounds. The memorial commemorates both World Wars, the Korean War, Vietnam War and Desert Storm.

“It’s very important to have these memorials in our community,” said Kenny Schmidt, a Vietnam veteran and adjutant at the Oakmont American Legion Post 600. “We have to remember those who’ve died for our freedom. These memorials and monuments are symbols of our freedom”

According to Maria Gingery, assistant borough secretary of Plum, the oldest monument in Plum is the Civil War, Spanish American War and World Wars I and II Monument, which lists the names of local veterans who served at those times, and the Civil War cannon—dated from 1844—that sits next to it. Both are located at Plum Creek Cemetery.

According to the cemetery’s website, the canon is known to be one of the oldest of its kind still around.

The newest, according to Gingery, is the Armed Services Monument, dedicated in 2008, at Plum High School. The monument honors all Plum High School graduates that have served or are serving in the military. The David Finnegan Vietnam Memorial, a memorial originally inducted in 1969 that honors the Plum graduate and soldier who died during that war, was moved and placed in front of the high school.

The Plum municipal building displays a plaque listing the Plum Township Honor Roll—a long list of names of those who served in World War II and the Korean War. 

The memorial in front of the building is dedicated to “the men and women of Plum Borough who served our nation in war and peace” in all wars and was dedicated in 1992.

 “I think it’s fantastic we have these monuments,” Liz Bender, steward of the Plum American Legion Post 980. “These people risk and sacrifice their lives for our freedom.”

The American Legion has a memorial in remembrance of its members, a decommissioned M60A3 main battle tank used during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and a salute to locals who served during Operator Desert Storm.

The cemeteries and memorials of Verona, Oakmont and Plum are decorated for Memorial Day with flags on the graves of military personnel and flowers set out by American Legion posts, veterans, families and friends.

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