Adams to get war memorial
ADAMS TWP — Soldiers, sailors and airmen who died to protect American freedoms will be honored by a new war memorial in the township park.
Township residents Paul and Mary Ford are heading up the project, which will have a 60-foot- long black Indian granite wall installed near the gazebo in the park on Valencia Road.
Mary Ford said the names of those who were killed in action, missing in action or prisoners of war in any war since the Civil War will be etched in the granite.
Ford is asking residents to send her the names of veterans from Adams or Middlesex townships and from Mars, Callery or Evans City who fit those categories, so she can have their names placed on the memorial.
Ford said she has the names of 48 veterans but wants to make sure all veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice are honored on the wall.
She said she and her husband visited a war memorial wall in Rural Valley that impressed them, then realized that Adams Township Park has no veterans’ memorial.
They talked to the township supervisors, who jumped at the idea.
“There was no hesitation about it (from supervisors),” Ford said. “They approved it right away.”
A smaller memorial will honor each branch of the U.S. Armed Services. Seven benches, one commemorating each war since the Civil War, will be placed at the memorial, and friends and families may buy commemorative pavers to be installed at the branch in which the veteran being commemorated served.
Three flagpoles at the memorial will fly the American, Pennsylvania and P.O.W./M.I.A. flags. Businesses that donate toward the memorial’s construction will have their names on a sponsors’ wall.
Paul Ford, who served with the Army in Vietnam from 1966 to 1968, hopes work on the site will begin within the next month.
“But that all depends on getting the names,” he said.
Supervisors Chairman Donald Aiken praised the Fords for their efforts.
“It’s great,” Aiken said. “All the supervisors really appreciate it.”
To contact Mary or Paul Ford with the name of veteran or to sponsor the war memorial, call 724-625-2341.
Details on the memorial are available by logging onto www.adamstwp.org and clicking on the parks and recreation tab, which lists the war memorial.
