ADAMS TWP — The Adams War Memorial will be dedicated at 2 p.m. Sunday at the township park at 698 Valencia Road.

The granite monument is 8 feet by 6 feet and is inscribed with the 147 names of soldiers and sailors who were killed in action, as prisoners of war, or were missing in action in American wars, beginning with the Civil War.

It is surrounded by a 140-foot block wall, and 13,000 engravable pavers will serve as the floor of the monument site.

Three 30-foot flagpoles, a granite podium displaying the branches of the armed services, a granite donor monument, and five benches, commemorating different wars, complete the display.

Township resident Paul Ford, who coordinated the effort over the past year with the help of his wife, Mary Jane, said more than 600 people plan to attend the dedication.

The program will include a musical prelude on bagpipes before a welcome by master of ceremonies John Yeager, Commander of the American Legion Post 787 in Mars.

The Rev. Peter deVries of Old Union Presbyterian Church will provide an invocation, then Bantam Marine Detachment 743 will post the colors.

Scouting troops will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, and the Greater Cranberry Barbershop Chorus will sing the national anthem.

Speakers will include Army Maj. Scott Ford, who graduated from Mars High School and the U.S. Military Academy, and Army Capt. Ken Carlson, retired, a Butler County resident who was with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency.

The unveiling of the monument, the laying of a wreath, a gun salute, and the playing of taps will round out the event.

The memorial’s beginnings came when Ford, a Vietnam War veteran, decided the township needed a memorial to honor those who died to protect American freedoms.

Ford praised the donors and businesses who gave thousands of dollars in materials and labor to help build the large memorial.

“It’s unbelievable how they have come through with everything,” Ford said. “That’s what has kept the monument going.”

Memorial bricks engraved with the names of veterans are available for $125 per brick. Memorial bricks can be ordered at www.adamstwp.org/memorial.