Trenton VFW Post 919 is taking orders for honor bricks to recognize military veterans and raise money for its building renovation project.
Post Commander Tony Ralston says the VFW wants to put the bricks in a wall at the World War 1 Memorial at Moberly Park of Trenton.
Ralston notes the VFW also has an allocation to put some at the Military Annex of the Grundy County Museum in Trenton.
Anyone with military service is eligible to be honored with a four-by-eight-inch brick. Each brick can have three lines of writing with 20 characters per line. That includes spaces and punctuation.
Post Quartermaster Sam Smith notes most of the brick orders so far include a veteran’s rank and name and where the person served.
Ralston says the VFW wants to compile a list of names of veterans. That way if someone wants to order bricks for multiple veterans, the VFW will be able to provide names. He comments a lot of the veterans no longer have families in the area.
Ralston explains the VFW had information on Grundy County residents who fought in World War 2 as well as those who fought from Vietnam to Desert Storm. There was nothing on those from World War 1, so he started researching.
Ralston notes a lot of streets in Trenton are named after veterans.
The VFW wants to recognize those individuals by putting their names on bricks.
Ralston reports there were 365 Grundy County residents who fought in Company D in World War 1, 1,600 in World War 2, 96 in Korea, 164 in Vietnam, and 44 in Desert Storm. Information about World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm is listed at the Grundy County Courthouse in Trenton.
There were 79 Grundy County residents killed in action in World War 2 and one killed in action in Vietnam. Ralston does not currently have information on a lot of military members from World War 1.
Smith says some information found was a list of names that were put in the newspaper, however, the list only included VFW members who served in the Boxer Rebellion, World War 1, World War 2, and the Spanish American War.
Ralston continues his research.
Honor bricks cost $100 each. Forms to order bricks can be obtained by calling Ralston at 660-359-3198 or Smith at 660-359-5568.
