Last month during an Oct. 22 Tenino City Council meeting, the City of Tenino entered into an agreement with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 5878 establishing the responsibilities for a new veterans monument that will soon be under construction at Tenino City Park.
While a veterans monument already exists at the park, that one isn’t specific to Tenino residents, according to VFW Post 5878 Surgeon Frank Hicks.
“The one that’s there now is for South Thurston County,” Hicks told The Chronicle during a phone call on Thursday, Nov. 7. “This one is just going to be for the Teninoans who have served. Around 600 men and women.”
The current monument is also dedicated only to service members who were killed in action, while the new memorial will include all Tenino resident veterans from 1913 to 2012, the first 100 years Tenino High School was open.
“We stopped at 2012 because there’s no guarantee we could perpetuate into the future continuing to put names on there. We’d love to do that, but there was no way to guarantee that, so we had to put a start and stop date,” Hicks said.
The new monument will be located near the park’s Memorial Pool, which is also dedicated to veterans. Currently, the city is in the permitting phase of the project and hopes to break ground soon if the weather allows it.
“We’re doing masonry, so we hope it will be done within six months,” Hicks added.
The agreement with the city dictates that the city will be responsible for preparing the site for the new monument by compacting the soil and installing a gravel base, along with supplying power and water during its construction.
A veteran committee including Hicks, members of the local American Legion chapter and the South Thurston County Historical Society, will be responsible for designing and engineering the monument, providing gravel needed for the base and will be responsible for all construction costs.
VFW Post 5878 is currently holding a fundraiser to help pay for construction costs.
“We’ve been selling paving bricks for $100 and honor-donor bricks for $1,000 to raise money,” Hicks said.
The honor-donor bricks will be included in the monument. Additionally, Hicks has pledged his estate to ensure all financial costs will be met if the necessary funding to complete the monument isn’t raised.
“The city wanted to make sure there was money there for completion of the monument so it wasn’t a hole in the ground,” Hicks said.
Those interested in purchasing either a paving brick or honor-donor brick to help fund the new monument can visit VFW Post 5878 in Tenino to fill out the donation form.
VFW Post 5878 is located at 285 Sussex Ave. E. in downtown Tenino.
