Fund-raising begins for Purple Heart monument in Holton
Although Holton and Jackson County have been designated “Purple Heart Communities” in recognition of those wounded or killed while on active military duty, there is not currently a local monument in place that lists and honors those who have received the Purple Heart medal.
A group of local military veterans is looking to change that.
Mike McManigal, director of American Legion Riders Post 44 in Holton, said a fund-raising drive has been announced for the construction of a monument that lists and honors those military veterans from Jackson County who have received the Purple Heart medal.
Organizations involved in the project — including Holton American Legion Post 44 and its Legion Riders and the Sons of the American Legion subsidiaries, along with Holton VFW Post 1367 — are hoping to raise $25,000 for the construction of a Purple Heart monument in Linscott Park, McManigal said.
“I’ve heard that more than one person has seen the Purple Heart Community signs on the highway coming into town and asked where they would go to learn more. They were expecting something to go visit,” he said, referencing the Purple Heart Community designations given to Holton and Jackson County in 2014.
The local veterans’ organizations then 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,” said McManigal, whose 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. Plans are to offer 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.
An order form for donor bricks will be included in an upcoming edition of The Holton Recorder; order forms will also be available at the Veterans Day parade scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 11 on Holton’s Town Square. Donations are tax-deductible and may be sent to the American Legion, P.O. Box 184, Holton, KS 66436.
