Purple Heart memorial fund drive seeking donations

A group of local military veter­ans seeking to build a new monu­ment in Holton’s Linscott Park has begun to receive donations needed for con­struction of the monument, which will honor military personnel in the county who have received the Pur­ple Heart medal.

“Donations for the Purple Heart Project are coming in steadily,” said Mike McManigal, director of American Legion Riders Post 44 in Holton. “We have $3,200 towards the $25,000 goal, and it is our hope we can achieve the $25,000 goal by April 1 so we have ample time to get the monument created prior to Memorial Day in May.”

The Legion Riders, in conjunc­tion with Holton American Legion Post 44, the Sons of the American Legion and Holton VFW Post 1367, announced the fund-raising drive in early November, prior to the annual Veterans Day Parade. The group’s plan is to build a monument that lists and honors Jackson County veterans who have received the Purple Heart.

Both Holton and Jackson County received Purple Heart Community designations in 2014, but McMani­gal noted that many who come into Holton after seeing the Purple Heart Community sign want to know where they can go to learn more. At present, however, no such memorial exists here.

The local veterans’ organizations got together to see what they could do and came up with a plan to build a Purple Heart monument in Linscott Park facing north to­ward Fourth Street, near the World War II monument in that area, McManigal said.

The plan for the monument in­cludes a replica of the Purple Heart medal on the front, along with the names of Purple Heart recipients from Holton and Jackson County on the back. McManigal said the monument will be ADA accessible, and its planned dimensions are six feet high by seven feet long by two feet wide.

“It’s going to be built in such a way that names could be added to it, if we have to,” McManigal said in November. His stepson, Cody Baker, was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart after being killed while on active duty with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan in 2011.

Individuals, businesses and or­ganizations who make contribu­tions toward the construction of the monument will have the opportu­nity to be recognized through the purchase of donor bricks, it was re­ported. Those involved with con­struction of the memorial are of­fering a four-inch-by-eight-inch brick with two lines of personalized text for a do­nation of $100 or more, or an eight-inch square brick with four lines of text for a donation of $500 or more.

“Several people have purchased a donor brick as a gift, so anyone needing a last-minute gift idea is asked to consider this worthwhile project. A few businesses are showing their support too with bricks,” said McManigal, who noted that so far, three eight-by-eight bricks and nine four-by-eight bricks have been sold.

So far, a total of 71 names have been offered or confirmed to be listed on the Purple Heart monu­ment. Their names are listed below by conflict:

“We want to make sure names are spelled correctly and that the correct rank and conflict is accu­rate,” McManigal said. “We wel­come the public’s input on accu­racy, as well as any additional names that should be included.”

Donations are tax-deductible and may be sent to the American Le­gion, P.O. Box 184, Holton, KS 66436. For more information or an order form, call McManigal at 364-3131.