MARSHFIELD – Marshfield’s Veterans Parkway Memorial is home to a new monument, which will be dedicated on July 4 — the 250th anniversary of our nation.
“No Man Left Behind” was recently donated to the community by Paul Rogers as a gift and a memorial.
“My wife died early. She was very young when she died. So, I never had a chance to celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary, which would have been last year. Anyway, so I thought, hmm, rather than celebrate that with her not being here, I decided that I was going to buy something nice for Veterans Parkway, “ Rogers explained.
“And so, I went up to a little town outside near Wabasha, Minn., and there is a sculptor up there that makes these out of forms and pours them of sailors, firemen, everything. It’s unbelievable. Anyway, I bought this statue, which was a theme from Vietnam, ‘No Man Left Behind.’
“And being a member of the American Legion Post 54 for 50 years this year, I donated this to the city of Marshfield on Veterans Parkway next to the Purple Heart Monument and the Gold Star Mothers Monument—a statue of No Man Left Behind.”
The concept of the Veterans Parkway Memorial was developed by former Alder Tom Buttke and longtime Alder Mike Feirer shortly after Veterans Parkway was named.
The memorial features flags and murals, representing the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Air Force and the POW-MIA.
An anchor was added, and a bronze statue of a combat medic treating a GI was placed in memory of Joe Altmann, who died in Afghanistan in 2011.
The memorial now also features a Purple Heart Memorial and granite etchings listing those who lost their lives from Marshfield, and a Gold Star Mother memorial.
The new addition is made of painted concrete.
“It is a special paint that’s on there, but it is all concrete. That’s why it’s 2,000 pounds. And last fall already, when we did the bench for the Gold Star Mothers, I had Marshfield Monument put in the granite base for it. I knew that that was coming,” Rogers explained.
The piece was set on the foundation in time for the Wisconsin Order of the Purple Hearts convention, which was recently held at Hotel Marshfield.
“I wanted that statue there for them when they came and looked at the Purple Heart,” Rogers added.
“And now we’re working on redoing the top (of the memorial). I’m working with Schalow’s Nursery on the top of that platform, where we’re going to redo that whole platform… We’re going to landscape the whole top of that with black rock.”
“No Man Left Behind” will be dedicated at the site on July 4 at 10 a.m.
The memorial site is located along Veterans Parkway near the Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library.
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