MOKANE, Mo. - The AMVETS Post 153 dedicated its Veterans Memorial Wall last weekend during the 12th annual Frogs and Hogs festival.
Construction of the wall began in August 2014 and was completed in July 2015. Since then, 73 plaques of local and nearby community veterans have been added.
The wall displays various branches of U.S. service branches - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard - and also includes information regarding the Confederate Army of Missouri. Also recognized are veterans who served in the Spanish American War; World War II; Korea and Vietnam wars; and Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The wall was encompassed by a row of flags, the "Field of Honor," displayed behind the wall to commemorate past and present veterans. Family and friends donated money to have their loved ones' names displayed with a flag flying in their name. Each flag represents a veteran who served or is serving honorably. Twenty-six of 30 positions have been filled. The flags will stay on the wall until the day after Veteran's Day, Nov. 11.
"As Americans, we don't fight because of the hate and anger that's in front of us," Don Dettmann of AMVETS Post 153 said closing the ceremony. "We fight because of the love that's behind us."
Post 153 Chaplain David Coleman provided the opening and closing prayer.
Also attending Saturday's ceremony was Katie Bernicky, of the Calwood area, a 12-year-old who currently holds the 2017 Missouri Young Miss crown. Bernicky personally raised enough money to send 19 veterans to Washington, D.C., via the Central Missouri Honor Flight program. She did this through fundraising activities and selling water, cookies and raffle tickets at the Honor Flight assembly area (Kingdom City Firefighter Memorial).