SUBA raises $25,000 toward a new veterans monument
The Inter-Mountain photo by Amanda Hayes Glen Hawkins, left, and Clyde Campbell, right, remove the last two bricks from the Veterans Memorial Wall Wednesday. Family members can pick up their veteran’s bricks at the base of the wall. A new granite structure will be erected this spring.
The Inter-Mountain photo by Amanda Hayes The former Veterans Memorial Wall at the Rock Cave Y is being torn down to make room for a new granite structure. Volunteers recently spent hours removing roughly 580 bricks from the wall. From left are Roger Johnston, Glen Hawkins, Clyde Campbell, Gail Bosley and Larry Alkire.
The Inter-Mountain photo by Amanda Hayes Glen Hawkins, left, and Clyde Campbell, right, remove the last two bricks from the Veterans Memorial Wall Wednesday. Family members can pick up their veteran’s bricks at the base of the wall. A new granite structure will be erected this spring.
The Inter-Mountain photo by Amanda Hayes The former Veterans Memorial Wall at the Rock Cave Y is being torn down to make room for a new granite structure. Volunteers recently spent hours removing roughly 580 bricks from the wall. From left are Roger Johnston, Glen Hawkins, Clyde Campbell, Gail Bosley and Larry Alkire.
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ROCK CAVE -- The last of the bricks in the Veterans Memorial Wall were removed Wednesday and demolition of the wall will soon happen to make way for six granite monuments that will be a lasting memorial to the veterans' service.
In just under a year, SUBA raised $25,300 for a new monument consisting of six 5-feet granite slabs with the 580 names existing on the wall plus others that were purchased but not placed as SUBA finalized plans to replace the crumbling wall.
SUBA president Glen Hawkins said 690 names will be engraved on the monument initially engraving being done by Frank White of Upshur Monuments. The bricks include Civil War soldiers as well as those from more recent conflicts .
The new wall is necessary due to the deterioration of the existing wall which has water damage and is crumbling.
"Those blocks are just falling to pieces," Hawkins said.
Since the wall was constructed in the 2000s, problems developed with water leaking down behind the brooks and many of the bricks had become discolored. The base of the wall also has deteriorated.
In 2018, SUBA launched a fundraising campaign that raised over $25,000 through hot dog and bake sales, quilt raffles, Clyde Campbell's turkey call raffle donations and other various donations.
To remove the bricks, Hawkins said he and the other volunteers had to "use a little bit of everything" over the course of several days.
"The first day, Gail Bosley and I came down and we removed 100 bricks and then we saw what we were getting into, so we got some more help," he said.
Roger Johnston, Glen Hawkins, Clyde Campbell and Larry Alkire also took turns removing the bricks with various hand tools.
"We started out with an oscillating saw," Hawkins said. "Where they didn't fit real tight, I could take the blade, go around behind them, cut the glue off and take them right out. Then, we got to places where it was so tight the blade wouldn't go in."
As they removed more bricks, the volunteers could also see more damage on the wall.
"Some of the wall came out with the bricks," Hawkins said. "Five bricks high, five bricks wide came out at one time and then the whole piece of wall came out at one time.
Bricks have been placed on the sidewalk at the base of the wall and family members are invited to come and pick up their veteran's brick.
The project will include a new footer and Hawkins said the plan is to have about three feet between the monuments to allow people to view the names on all sides. There may even be extra space on the footer to expand with two more monuments in the future as more funds are raised and names added.
Hawkins said more funds will be needed for sidewalks because of the decision to place a new, larger footer.
The new monuments will not have room to include anything more than the service member's name, but SUBA volunteers are planning a website that can be accessed with a QR code sign at the veteran's wall that will list those details.
To add a veteran to the monument, checks should be made to SUBA and sent to P.O. Box 115 Rock Cave, WV 26234 or can be left at the Rock Cave IGA along with the veteran's name, rank, branch of service and years served. Although the deadline has passed to get on the initial engraving, names will be collected and engraved once a year.