Two Wagon
Mound (WM) High School graduates, Former Marines, Viet Nam
Veterans have begun the building of a Veterans Memorial to
be located in WM. The Village Council has approved the project
and the construction of this Memorial will be located on the
WM to Roy, NM highway...on the north side..across the street
from the Gonzales, Encinias and Mondragon homes...the Village
has turned this open space into a park.
This
Memorial is being built "In Memory Of All Veterans and
Dedicated To All Wagon Mound Veterans"....this includes
ALL Veterans...Female, Male, Alive, Dead, all Branches of
the Military....including The National Guard....who have WM
roots. Whether they were born and raised in WM, lived in WM
for only a short time, graduated or attended school in WM....we
are including them all. For the past several months we have
been collecting names for this project and presently have
just shy of 400 names. This collection of names will be put
into book format with laminated pages for outdoor exposure
and held at the site in an all weather encasement, mounted
on a cinder block pedestal. Extra books will be held at the
Village Office in case of vandalism or theft...the omittance
of names is unintentional and this will allow us to add any
Veteran not included in the list...plus the names of future
Veterans from WM.
We want
and need names....duplicates of what we already have don't
matter...as they will be alphabetized...by mail, telephone,
email, smoke signals...dog sled...send us the names of Veterans
you know have WM roots.
The Memorial
will be made of concrete filled cinder blocks approx. 15 ft.
long and 6 ft. tall. On the surface will be a " 40"
X 60" ,on inscribed aluminum, with an all-weather protective
and anti-grafity coating..the dedicated words indicated on
the first paragraph of this news item. This Dedication will
be encircled by 12 inch wide and 3/8 inch thick embossed aluminum
plaques representing the various branches of the military,
including Coast Guard, Merchant Marines, National Guard and
POW/MIA's. Behind the Memorial will be a flagpole for the
Stars and Stripes and the Zia Symbol.
This
Memorial is being built with nothing but donations...we don't
want anyone laying claim to or politicians playing their games
with it...an account has been set-up at a local credit union.
Donations are greatly appreciated as the estimated costs for
this project are $6,000. Make checks payable to: "Wagon
Mound Veterans Memorial".
Several
fund raisers are already in place for this project. A six
prize raffle has begun. The Las Vegas "Freedom Riders"
motorcycle members are going to do a "Poker Run"
for us on June 6th. and invite all interested persons to participate.
The run will be from Las Vegas to Villanueva and surrounding
area. On June 26th. from 8 to 12 midnight...Jake Marquez y
Grupo Firme will be playing for a benefit dance at the Night
Owl, located in Las Vegas, NM...."vengan a tirar chancla"..
Betty Cruz, WM resident is assisting us with our fund raising
by organizing and doing a Bingo for us. This will be done
in WM at the school cafeteria. Date presently unknown and
will likely occur in June.
The two former WM graduates who are doing the project and
building the Memorial are: Albino Eloy (Gregor) Martinez (1966)
and Carlos (Chispas) Vicente Lopez (1967). Eloy can be reached
at: 505-454-6348. Carlos at 505-429-4587, email address: zepol@desertgate.com.
Don't
hesitate to call or contact us....we want input. Mail your
donations to: Carlos V. Lopez, PO Box 3962, Las Vegas,
NM, 87701-6962. Gracias por su ayuda....
