A ‘Historic Day’ for Winchester

On a cold but sun­ny Veterans Day morning—just one day after Winchester’s first snow­fall of the season—the cul­mi­na­tion of over 20 years of work was cel­e­brat­ed, as the rib­bon was cut on the Clark County World War II/Korean War Memorial. An esti­mat­ed crowd of 250 or more braved the icy air to wit­ness the his­toric event.

The mon­u­ment and park, locat­ed on East Broadway, just off Main Street, is a refuge of green space in the mid­dle of Winchester’s cen­tral busi­ness dis­trict. Designed by Winchester retired archi­tect and US Marine Corps Veteran, Chuck Witt, the site is now fin­ished and ready to receive visitors.

The site memo­ri­al­izes the 77 Clark County troops who per­ished in World War II and the 19 lost in the Korean con­flict. Each fall­en ser­vice mem­ber has a bronze plaque and a num­ber that ref­er­ences the loca­tion of their death on one of two gran­ite maps engraved and mount­ed on pedestals at both ends of the monument.

In addi­tion, the walk­way con­nect­ing the mon­u­ment to the street is paved with memo­r­i­al bricks pur­chased by peo­ple who wish to hon­or a vet­er­an, anoth­er fam­i­ly mem­ber, or a friend. 

The entire project cost about $250,000 to build, fund­ed by the sale of memo­r­i­al bricks, dona­tions, and grants.

A Ceremony 25 Years in the Making

Local and state offi­cials par­tic­i­pat­ed in the ded­i­ca­tion cer­e­mo­ny, along with mem­bers of the Clark County Veterans’ Council, the group respon­si­ble for years of plan­ning, fundrais­ing, and hard work that made this dream a real­i­ty. Sadly, many vet­er­ans of the two con­flicts passed away in the years since plan­ning began, but there were some in atten­dance on Tuesday.

The MC of the ded­i­ca­tion event was Dee Birkes, Vice President of the Clark County Veterans Council. Mayor Jo Ellen Reed spoke first, giv­ing recog­ni­tion to those who were instru­men­tal in build­ing the memo­r­i­al as well as offer­ing an open­ing prayer.

This was fol­lowed by a solemn moment of reflec­tion as the Winchester Fire Department Honor Guard pre­sent­ed the col­ors. Next was a recita­tion of the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Clark County Judge Executive Les Yates.

Barbara Disney, KSDAR State Historian, led a recita­tion of The American’s Creed, fol­lowed by a stir­ring and pow­er­ful ren­di­tion of the National Anthem by Clark Co. EMS Director Perri Wilson.

State Commissioner of Veterans Affairs offered remarks, as did Craig Potts of the Kentucky Heritage Council. Col. Potts also announced that the KHC had award­ed the Veterans Council a grant for the remain­ing $42,000 need­ed to com­plete the memo­r­i­al. He heaped praise on the grant appli­ca­tion, co-writ­ten by Chuck Witt and City Grant Writer Alyshia Martin. 

Perhaps the most inspir­ing remarks were deliv­ered by for­mer Mayor Ed Burtner. Calling the new memo­r­i­al “Good ground, sacred ground,” Ed gave a his­to­ry of its devel­op­ment, which he said began 25 years ago, when he was city man­ag­er.  He called upon the com­mu­ni­ty to fin­ish the work of hon­or­ing fall­en ser­vice mem­bers by build­ing a Gulf War memo­r­i­al in the next 15 years.

Next came the cer­e­mo­ni­al rib­bon-cut­ting, with Veterans Council mem­bers David Ward, Dianna Layne, Greg Yates, Don Rose, Chuck Witt, and Dee Birkes watch­ing as Council President Roy Hudson did the hon­ors of cut­ting the red rib­bon to offi­cial­ly open the memorial.

The cer­e­mo­ny con­tin­ued with Erika Gaines, who per­formed a song called “Veterans Hallelujah,” writ­ten to the tune of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” leav­ing many atten­dees in tears.

The cer­e­mo­ny con­clud­ed with a prayer from Sgt. Monty Corbett, Chaplain of the WFD, and by a bugle per­for­mance of “Taps” by Ken Henry.

‘They Have a Voice Now’

After the cer­e­mo­ny, we spoke with Dee Birks, who called it “a his­toric day.”

“. . . this is a his­toric day for us, not just to cel­e­brate vet­er­ans on Veterans’ Day, but to open up a memo­r­i­al for the 96 Clark Countians that got killed in action, gave their lives for their country.

“People can come by, read their names, and [the hon­ored ser­vice mem­bers] will nev­er die because they’re in our hearts and minds. And it’s very spe­cial for me. This is some­thing that’s going to be a tes­ta­ment to our com­mu­ni­ty for gen­er­a­tions to come.”

Dee then spoke to the greater Clark County community.

“I appre­ci­ate the sup­port from our com­mu­ni­ty and just what this means to me as a com­bat vet­er­an myself. It’s hard to put into words how much I appre­ci­ate that.

“But this is some­thing that this com­mu­ni­ty need­ed. These indi­vid­u­als need­ed a voice. And we final­ly gave it to them.”

Completing this project required the hard work and ded­i­ca­tion of many peo­ple, includ­ing the Veterans Council, city, coun­ty, and state gov­ern­ment offi­cials, mon­e­tary and in-kind donors, and oth­er vol­un­teers who assist­ed in var­i­ous ways.

But one per­son stands tall among all of these. One per­son kept the dream alive for a quar­ter-cen­tu­ry. One per­son pos­sessed the skill to design every aspect of the memorial—and insist on main­tain­ing its integri­ty through­out the process. One per­son con­tin­u­ous­ly beat the drum, hit the streets, and wrote the arti­cles that kept the flame burning.

That per­son is Chuck Witt.

Following the cer­e­mo­ny, we tried to get Chuck’s per­spec­tive on all this work. But for once, he was near­ly speechless.

What was Chuck feel­ing at that moment?

“A lit­tle pride. A lit­tle nostalgia. . .”

As his voice trailed off, Chuck choked up and paused. His eyes grew misty. Then he sim­ply offered, “I’m not sure I can put it in words.”

He didn’t need to. His face reflect­ed it all more than any words could do.

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