{"id":34357,"date":"2022-11-11T17:03:05","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T22:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/black-hills-honor-roll-event-on-veterans-day-nov-11-in-memorial-park\/"},"modified":"2022-11-11T17:03:17","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T22:03:17","slug":"black-hills-honor-roll-event-on-veterans-day-nov-11-in-memorial-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/black-hills-honor-roll-event-on-veterans-day-nov-11-in-memorial-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Hills Honor Roll event on Veterans Day Nov. 11 in Memorial Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over 700 names are listed on 6 majestic BH walls of granite, surrounded by the six military service flags, as well as the official POW\/MIA and SD state flags, that both fly together below the large US flag at the monument site in Memorial Park in Rapid City. (Photo courtesy of Ed Manzano)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

With the imminent completion of the Black Hills War Monument in Memorial Park near downtown Rapid City, the Black Hills Veterans Association, a local organization focused on veterans issues, has kicked off the Black Hills Honor Roll, a program to ensure we pause to remember all who left family and home to fight in our nation\u2019s wars and never returned home.<\/p>\n

The BHVA meets regularly at the VFW Post 1273 to discuss veteran\u2019s affairs and receives updates from local legislators on medical care, benefits and other issues important to military retirees and veterans.<\/p>\n

A BHVA member describes the Honor Roll program. \u201cWe go through the list of 700 names engraved on the walls of the war monument and choose four names that are sent each month to local media in a news story\u201d, said Ed Manzano, a local USAF retiree. \u201cThe Honor Roll names and stories of these local military heroes will help ensure our citizens NEVER FORGET the price that has been paid for our freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the former President of the BH War Monument Association that built the monument in Memorial Park, Mr Manzano has researched Rapid City\u2019s long history of honoring our local veterans. \u201cAfter WWII, when the military members returned from overseas, a group of Rapid City citizens built the Pennington County Honor Roll, a hexagon shaped structure that listed over 3500 names of soldiers, sailors and airmen who served in WWII, with a star by each name of those who were killed in action.\u201d (see photo). Mr Manzano\u2019s research through the archives of the RCJ has produced photos of the original Honor Roll structure that stood in Halley Park from 1946-1963. \u201cUnfortunately\u201d, continues Mr Manzano, \u201cthe original structure was built of wood and only lasted 17 years.\u201d But in 1963, local veterans groups tore down the wood structure and erected a wall of bricks with a bronze plaque that still stands today at the same location under the US flag that flies in Halley Park. \u201cHowever, the names that once stood were not included\u201d. (see photo)<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when the BH War Monument Association made the plan to upgrade the Veterans Memorial in Memorial Park, which was done in 1991 during Desert Storm\/first Iraq War, our 2022 upgrade included listing the names of not only our county\u2019s war dead, but expanding the list to include surrounding Black Hills counties and towns such as Custer, Sturgis, Lead-Deadwood, Belle Fourche, Hot Springs, and many others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today over 700 names are listed on 6 majestic BH walls of granite, surrounded by the six military service flags, as well as the official POW\/MIA and SD state flags, that both fly together below the large US flag at the monument site.<\/p>\n

\u201cA nice feature of the granite walls will be the future addition of ceramic tiles with a QR code embedded in each wall. When a photo is taken of the wall, the code produces a website URL on the phone screen, and this takes the viewer to the bhwma.org<\/a> website where they can click on each name and see the individual military member\u2019s military history and legacy\u201d. We wanted to not just have the names, but the stories behind each name, says Mr Manzano.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have names and histories of local military who died at Chateau Woods France, during WWI; at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941 and at DDay on June 6, 1944; at Okinawa and Iwo Jima in 1945; \u00a0names from the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War in 1950; 19 names from local EAFB Cold War missions, such as BGen Richard Ellsworth who died in service to his county in 1953; , 47 names from the Vietnam War; 16 names of local military from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; the names of the Kabul 13, the young Marines who died in August 2021 at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.\u00a0 The final sixth wall lists over 100 local Prisoners of War who died in captivity as well as many military listed Missing in Action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Manzano concludes, \u201cOur goal in publishing the four names each month is simply to bring public awareness of the monument site, and to help all of us who love our nation and relish our freedom NEVER FORGET that freedom is not free. We hope parents and grandparents will bring their children and grandchildren to the monument site and show them the names and histories of these brave men and women who served in time of war.\u201d Special days such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, Flag Day, Armed Forces Day, and national POW\/MIA recognition Day, are excellent opportunities to visit the monument site and honor the memories of these Black Hills fallen heroes.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother way we will honor them will be the first annual Mary V Piper Freedom Essay Contest, for local hs students. The winning essay writer will receive a cash prize and\/or gift certificate and the opportunity to read their essay in 2023 at the official monument dedication ceremony on Memorial Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTE: A Veterans Day ceremony is planned for Nov 11, 2022 from 9-9:30am at the War Monument site, near the corners of Omaha St and 6th St, in Memorial Park. The public is invited to attend, a local veteran will speak on freedom, and the sacrificial service of all military veterans will be remembered. For more information, visit the website of the War Monument Association at www.bhwma.org<\/a>.\u00a0 Individuals can make a tax deductible donation in the memory of any name listed on the BH Honor Roll, address to mail a check is listed on the website, or call 605-209-6283 for more info or email info@bhwma.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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BLACK HILLS HONOR ROLL NOVEMBER 2022<\/strong><\/p>\n

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