Frenchville Veteran committee builds monument honoring more than 700 veterans

Frenchville Veteran committee builds monument honoring more than 700 veterans

Seven-member group completed the project in one year, adding a book of veterans’ stories

Frenchville, Maine (WAGM) -A group of seven people has built a granite monument honoring more than 700 veterans who have called Frenchville home. The Frenchville Veteran Committee unveiled the project on Main Street, a monument seven sections wide featuring the names of 724 veterans.

“This monument represents more than just the wall and the names. If you build it they will come,” said John Raymond.

From a phone call to a committee

One year ago, the project was an idea discussed over a phone call. John Raymond called Claude Roy about starting the project, and Roy brought his brother, Ken, into the conversation. The three began building the committee that would eventually grow to seven members. The group also received help from a retired Pentagon employee who brought more names to the project.

“And then as we’re discussing the project, Louise Paradis overheard our conversation. She says, my brother Gary Martin just retired from the Pentagon,” said Claude Roy.

From there, the committee met week after week, researching names and collecting the stories behind them.

“We took one week off during Christmas and that was it,” Roy said.

Stories help develop the project

Those stories became part of the project. After the committee met its goals, members decided a monument wasn’t enough, so they created a book featuring stories of the veterans they had researched.

“If you’re in the war, you don’t talk about the war. And kids would ask you what you did in the war, and sometimes the father or the grandfather didn’t want to mention any of it. So we covered a lot of the stories in the book,” said Ken Roy.

In one year, the committee built the monument, gathered 724 names, added benches and pavers, raised more than $40,000, and created a book preserving veterans’ stories. What started as a plan for a few hundred names and three slabs grew larger. A seventh granite slab on the monument leaves room for the names of veterans who come after them.

“And what we wanted to do is give it an opportunity for all veterans to be proud of what they did and to be able to find their name, bring their grandchildren or their children, sit on one of the benches that are here, and just discuss some of the stories that they have about their military life,” Raymond said.

Dedication set for Saturday

The official dedication of the monument is Saturday at 1 p.m. in Frenchville, by the gazebo. The book featuring veterans’ stories is available for purchase on Amazon.

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