The new monument will be placed just north of the Vietnam War memorial in the park.

By Madelyn Nonni

RUTLAND — A new World War II monument is set to honor Rutland County veterans later this fall.

Rutland Cemetery Commissioner Thomas Giffin said after receiving a phone call last year from a Poultney resident looking for the city’s WWII memorial, he realized it was time to make a change.

“We have monuments for everything in (Main Street Park). World War I, Vietnam. I was shocked — no memorial for the World War II veterans,” he said.

The new monument will be placed just north of the Vietnam War memorial in the park.

“I worked very close with all these World War II Veterans. We did monuments, the flag poles, all over the city. Not once did they ever mention building a monument for themselves,” said Rutland resident Tony Romeo at a recent monument planning meeting.

Giffin, who has been spearheading the project, said he got straight to work after pitching it to the Board of Alderman.

After putting word out to granite companies across Vermont, Giffin got in touch with Barre-based Buttura & Gherardi Granite Artisans, working with Mark Gherardi.

Giffin said the monument will stand 10 feet, 4 inches tall, with an eagle and engraved words, “In Memory of the Greatest Generation” on the front. It will also contain a bronze plaque listing names of fallen soldiers from Rutland Town and city.

The Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines branches are to be listed on the backside of the stone, but one problem emerged while designing.

“It should say the Army Air Corps. There (was) no Air Force,” said Ron Fredette Sr., commander of American Legion Post 31.

Fredette was referring to when the current Air Force was previously called the Air Corps between 1927 and 1941. Although the change occurred during the war, the Air Corps remained as such until 1947, when it was legally abolished.

The monument had listed the Air Force in its first rendering, but Giffin said he would mark it and send back the correction.

Organizers said the American Legion Post 31 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 648 are looking to raise a total of $50,000 for the project, and are currently at $13,000, with more donations on the way.

Fundraising efforts are planned to take place over the summer, including a spaghetti dinner at the Rutland Elks Lodge on Sunday, June 7, with all proceeds going to the memorial fund.

Giffin said he hopes the monument can be placed by Veterans Day.

“I have a lot of faith in the Rutland community, and it’s the right thing to do,” he said

Via Community News Service, a VTSU-Castleton internship, for the Rutland Herald