New Veterans Memorial on Acton Town Common Proposed for 11/11/11

On the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month, the signing of the Armistice in 1918 ended the First World War. On the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month on 2011, the town of Acton may just see a brand new Veterans Memorial on the Town Common.

John Murray wears many hats for the town of Acton, one of them being the assistant to the Town Manager, as well as being in charge of Public Ceremony. On Tuesday night, Murray and his assistant, Lili Early, organized a meeting of local veterans in the warehouse of the Highway Department building for them to see a large block of granite that will be used for the memorial and to seek input from the vets on the specific wording they would all like to see on the memorial.

“On our part there wasn’t any pride of authorship with this project,” said Murray. “This came out of talks with Veterans who thought there should be something on the Town Common. Without getting into personal stories, there are reasons we wanted to be involved.”

A few dozen local veterans were present for the meeting and voiced their input about what type of message should be placed on the granite. Murray drafted a few different versions of options and pitched it to the crowd.

“This meeting really was to listen to the veterans and hear what they wanted for wording on the memorial,” said Murray. “We put a lot of thought into what we wrote. The purpose of the meeting was so the vets could write it.”

Important to note:

• The shopping plaza on Main Street that hosts Not Your Average Joe’s, Dunkin Donuts, T.C. Lando’s and many other businesses donated the piece of granite.

• An Acton woman, Yin Pete, offered to do the art work on the back of the memorial, which will be of an eagle with a revolutionary flag in one talon and an American flag in the other talon.

• The memorial will be placed where the Spanish-American War Monument currently is placed in the Town Common, and the Spanish-American War Monument is being proposed to relocate in between the and the

• The Board of Selectmen and the Historic District Commission (HDC) still have to approve the project:

Meetings:

• The HDC Committee will hear from Murray about the project on Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 9 p.m., in Room 126 of the Acton Town Hall.

• The Board of Selectmen will vote on the projects approval Monday, Oct. 17, at 7:15 p.m., in the Faulkner Room of the Acton Town Hall.

• The HDC will vote on the projects approval Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 8 p.m. in Room 126 of the Acton Town Hall.