The Wayne County Veteran’s Memorial was built o the lawn of the Wayne County Courthousein 2009 and dedicated in 2010.
At the time of its dedication, there were over 3,000 names engraved on it. Since then more names have been added and currently there are 3,333 names on the Memorial.
Having a name engraved on the Veteran’s Memorial is an honor reserved for those men and women who, dating back to the War of 1812 have served their country. Among those names engraved on the memorial are one Medal of Honor Recipient, 68 service members who were Killed in Action, one service member who is Missing in Action, and 13 service members who were Prisoners of War.
Every year countless visitors have stopped to show their respects at the Memorial. School students from Wayne and surrounding communities have visited the Memorial to learn about the military and the service men and women on the wall, and find the names of their grandparents, aunts, and uncles, or dads and moms, brothers, and sisters.
The Veteran’s Memorial has been fortunate in that it has required little maintenance throughout the years. However, this year the Memorial committee does have some maintenance that must get done.
Because the Memorial’s care is done through donations, the committee decided to hold a flag raffle and barbecue on Aug. 19 in conjunction with Cruise Night. The raffle and barbecue were a success in part to donors from Winside (Farmer’s Coop) and Wayne (Ace, Pac 'N' Save, Quality Foods, and Lutt Oil).
At the conclusion of the barbecue is was announced that Bill Melena was the winner of the flag raffle.
"The Wayne County Veterans Memorial thanks everyone who has visited the memorial to show their respects to our veterans, and everyone who made our fundraiser a success, also, if you have a name that you would like engraved on the memorial please contact me," said Sandra Hansen, Chairperson of the Memorial Committee.
