SOUTH WAYNE - Tucked between the Cheese County Trail and Wisconsin 11, lies a little piece of land "dedicated to the men and women of South Wayne and surrounding area who served and sacrificed to preserve democracy."
The inscription, chosen by veteran Dwight Allmon, a long-time resident of South Wayne and its municipal judge for 32 years, is engraved on the memorial stone standing at the center of the park, surrounded by the flags of the United States, State of Wisconsin, Prisoners of War/Missing In Action, and each branch of military.
Allmon is also at the center of that park, which was dedicated on Nov. 10, 2001.
He is the one to whom others point as the reason the public park came into being. It is to him they go when they want to contribute their time and energy or to make a donation.
It is he who asks for help to erect the large flag poles every spring and who sets out the white crosses and little flags each holiday.
Allmon is not so intent on recalling his military experiences during the Korean War. He refuses to talk about, think about or even dream about his service evacuating wounded soldiers.
"I saw things I wished I'd never seen," he said
So, Allmon is replacing some of those memories.
One of his tales follows the development of South Wayne's Veteran's Memorial Park. Allmon calls the park "my baby," and he is full of stories about it. Those he is not shy about sharing.
IDEA Conceived
It was the night before Memorial Day about 15 years ago when Allmon noticed something was amiss.
On the way to Monroe with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren for dinner, Allmon took the "old road" out of South Wayne, past the local cemetery.
"Someone forgot to put out the flags," he recalled.
Allmon said he "bought an armful of flags" before returning home that night and was out early the next morning placing them next to each veteran's grave site.
The township offered to repay him for the flags, but he declined, he said.
However, the experience got him to thinking that his village wasn't doing enough to honor their veterans.
Allmon pushed the South Wayne village board to pass a resolution dedicating that small chunk of land, an underdeveloped public park already, for his ideal park to honor veterans.
If location was to be a key to its success in drawing visitors, South Wayne's new Veteran's Memorial Park has it, bordered by the Cheese County Trail on one side and Wis. 11 on the opposite side.
"There's more action in that park in the summer time than people realize," Allmon said.
Brought Forth
With the site firmly in hand and some financial help from a community fund, Allmon set about acquiring a memorial monument and flag poles.
He said he contacted "probably every monument maker in the region, looking for a good price," which was running about $3,500. But a monument dealer in Freeport made him an offer he happily accepted.
Because it was for a veteran memorial park, the Freeport business offered him a monument - of his choosing - for $1,100, engraving included. Allmon would have to dig and pour the concrete foundation, and that he gladly did, with the help of some community members.
South Wayne designed the monument with the dedication on the front, and the names of their battles listed on the back, staring with the Black Hawk War of 1832.
There were so many battles and not quite enough room, Allmon said, so the last ones - Iraq and Afghanistan - were engraved on the base.
Donations came in. To honor their specific loved ones, contributors bought bricks to pave the walkway for visitors to the monument and flags. The five bricks front-and-center are for those who were killed in military action.
Allmon found creative, inexpensive ways to furnish the park with good quality benches and picnic tables surrounded by shade trees for those who want to linger and remember.
With donations of parts, Allmon and his son even built a Civil War cannon replica for the park, which graces the western side of the park.
Dedicated
But Allmon continually longed for a real, antique cannon to set off the park's intended value and to focus more attention on the monument's meaning.
"Something that had seen battle," he said.
Then, one day, by chance, Allmon had the full attention of U.S. Rep. Ron Kind at a local listening session.
Allmon had arrived to unlock the fire station for the session and stayed to hear what community members had to say to the congressman.
"Well, I was the only one who came," Allmon said.
Eventually, their conversation came around to the park and Allmon's desire for a surplus cannon. Kind said he would look into procuring one and to call back the next day - a promise Allmon didn't take too seriously.
But Kind did call back and told Allmon to expect a call the next day from a National Guard captain.
The next day, the captain contacted Allmon and directed him to a scrapyard in Detroit.
"The guy there told me he'd send me the paperwork, which took me and the village clerk a month to fill out," Allmon said.
The paperwork stood about an inch and a half thick, he said.
"When I sent it in, I figured I'd hear back in about six to eight months," he said.
But two months later, Allmon was told he was on the waiting list.
"Then I figured it'd be a year," he added. Allmon was even ready for a four- or five-year wait.
But the wait was only about six months.
"When he called me back, he asked if I would accept a World War I cannon with wooden spokes," Allmon said.
An American Legion post had recently turned the cannon back in, and the cannon was still in Westfield. Allmon could go pick it up.
He quickly accepted. "I knew that was an antique," he said.
The cannon had been used during WWI, but Allmon learned it was built in 1910 - pre-WWI.
Fortunately, a lot of people in the community knew Allmon and supported what he was trying to do. A local truck owner loaned his truck and a trailer to haul the cannon back to South Wayne; a township board member with a certified driver's license volunteered to drive, and the foundry in Browntown brought in its crane to lift the cannon onto its new home, a concrete pad on the east end of the park.
Enduring
South Wayne's Veteran's Memorial Park, forged by the patriotic spirit of one veteran who cares for it deeply, touches people beyond the village's border.
Local master gardeners design and care for the flowers planted there. The township mows it. A Monroe company has now made its second donation of the main flags to replace those worn out. A local resident crafted the display of a kneeling soldier in the shadows.
"I'm proud of it," Allmon said, standing a bit taller. "I'm proud to be a veteran."
The inscription, chosen by veteran Dwight Allmon, a long-time resident of South Wayne and its municipal judge for 32 years, is engraved on the memorial stone standing at the center of the park, surrounded by the flags of the United States, State of Wisconsin, Prisoners of War/Missing In Action, and each branch of military.
Allmon is also at the center of that park, which was dedicated on Nov. 10, 2001.
He is the one to whom others point as the reason the public park came into being. It is to him they go when they want to contribute their time and energy or to make a donation.
It is he who asks for help to erect the large flag poles every spring and who sets out the white crosses and little flags each holiday.
Allmon is not so intent on recalling his military experiences during the Korean War. He refuses to talk about, think about or even dream about his service evacuating wounded soldiers.
"I saw things I wished I'd never seen," he said
So, Allmon is replacing some of those memories.
One of his tales follows the development of South Wayne's Veteran's Memorial Park. Allmon calls the park "my baby," and he is full of stories about it. Those he is not shy about sharing.
IDEA Conceived
It was the night before Memorial Day about 15 years ago when Allmon noticed something was amiss.
On the way to Monroe with his wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren for dinner, Allmon took the "old road" out of South Wayne, past the local cemetery.
"Someone forgot to put out the flags," he recalled.
Allmon said he "bought an armful of flags" before returning home that night and was out early the next morning placing them next to each veteran's grave site.
The township offered to repay him for the flags, but he declined, he said.
However, the experience got him to thinking that his village wasn't doing enough to honor their veterans.
Allmon pushed the South Wayne village board to pass a resolution dedicating that small chunk of land, an underdeveloped public park already, for his ideal park to honor veterans.
If location was to be a key to its success in drawing visitors, South Wayne's new Veteran's Memorial Park has it, bordered by the Cheese County Trail on one side and Wis. 11 on the opposite side.
"There's more action in that park in the summer time than people realize," Allmon said.
Brought Forth
With the site firmly in hand and some financial help from a community fund, Allmon set about acquiring a memorial monument and flag poles.
He said he contacted "probably every monument maker in the region, looking for a good price," which was running about $3,500. But a monument dealer in Freeport made him an offer he happily accepted.
Because it was for a veteran memorial park, the Freeport business offered him a monument - of his choosing - for $1,100, engraving included. Allmon would have to dig and pour the concrete foundation, and that he gladly did, with the help of some community members.
South Wayne designed the monument with the dedication on the front, and the names of their battles listed on the back, staring with the Black Hawk War of 1832.
There were so many battles and not quite enough room, Allmon said, so the last ones - Iraq and Afghanistan - were engraved on the base.
Donations came in. To honor their specific loved ones, contributors bought bricks to pave the walkway for visitors to the monument and flags. The five bricks front-and-center are for those who were killed in military action.
Allmon found creative, inexpensive ways to furnish the park with good quality benches and picnic tables surrounded by shade trees for those who want to linger and remember.
With donations of parts, Allmon and his son even built a Civil War cannon replica for the park, which graces the western side of the park.
Dedicated
But Allmon continually longed for a real, antique cannon to set off the park's intended value and to focus more attention on the monument's meaning.
"Something that had seen battle," he said.
Then, one day, by chance, Allmon had the full attention of U.S. Rep. Ron Kind at a local listening session.
Allmon had arrived to unlock the fire station for the session and stayed to hear what community members had to say to the congressman.
"Well, I was the only one who came," Allmon said.
Eventually, their conversation came around to the park and Allmon's desire for a surplus cannon. Kind said he would look into procuring one and to call back the next day - a promise Allmon didn't take too seriously.
But Kind did call back and told Allmon to expect a call the next day from a National Guard captain.
The next day, the captain contacted Allmon and directed him to a scrapyard in Detroit.
"The guy there told me he'd send me the paperwork, which took me and the village clerk a month to fill out," Allmon said.
The paperwork stood about an inch and a half thick, he said.
"When I sent it in, I figured I'd hear back in about six to eight months," he said.
But two months later, Allmon was told he was on the waiting list.
"Then I figured it'd be a year," he added. Allmon was even ready for a four- or five-year wait.
But the wait was only about six months.
"When he called me back, he asked if I would accept a World War I cannon with wooden spokes," Allmon said.
An American Legion post had recently turned the cannon back in, and the cannon was still in Westfield. Allmon could go pick it up.
He quickly accepted. "I knew that was an antique," he said.
The cannon had been used during WWI, but Allmon learned it was built in 1910 - pre-WWI.
Fortunately, a lot of people in the community knew Allmon and supported what he was trying to do. A local truck owner loaned his truck and a trailer to haul the cannon back to South Wayne; a township board member with a certified driver's license volunteered to drive, and the foundry in Browntown brought in its crane to lift the cannon onto its new home, a concrete pad on the east end of the park.
Enduring
South Wayne's Veteran's Memorial Park, forged by the patriotic spirit of one veteran who cares for it deeply, touches people beyond the village's border.
Local master gardeners design and care for the flowers planted there. The township mows it. A Monroe company has now made its second donation of the main flags to replace those worn out. A local resident crafted the display of a kneeling soldier in the shadows.
"I'm proud of it," Allmon said, standing a bit taller. "I'm proud to be a veteran."