November 15, 2014

New Gloucester Veterans' Monument dedicated - By Tracy Scheckel



Mother Nature was abundantly clear when she decided that the dedication of the New Gloucester Veterans’ Monument should be conducted as closely as possible to Veterans’ Day. After snow and mostly wind postponed the event for a week, she provided a beautiful sunny backdrop this past Sunday for the hundreds of people who attended the ceremony.

The monument project was a joint effort between the New Gloucester Historical Society and the Lunn-Hunnewell AMVETS Post 6, not to mention literally hundreds of donors who supported the project with cash, in-kind labor and a land donation from McCann Properties LLC. Tom Blake of the Historical Society estimates that the combined donations totaled approximately $120,000.

The monument is engraved with 1,149 New Gloucester Veterans’ names dating back to the Revolutionary War. To raise awareness about the monument and inspire donations, Dennis McCann set a goal to run one mile for each name engraved on the monument. He completed that goal and kicked off Sunday’s dedication event as he arrived running -- to the tune of “You’re a Grand Old Flag” -- while carrying an American flag.

New Gloucester Boy Scout Troop 135 and New Gloucester Cub Scout Troop 135 led the Pledge of Allegiance and Jane Lipp sang the National Anthem. The monument is located at 1029 Lewiston Road in New Gloucester.























 

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