MORENCI — More than 80 years ago, Staff Sgt. Robert Deatrick was fighting in the Battle of the Bulge during the final months of World War II.
Soon, his name will be the first to be inscribed on a new veterans’ monument at Oak Grove Cemetery.
A dedication ceremony for the new monument will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 4, with a performance of the national anthem, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, a 21-gun salute, and the playing of “Taps.” The public is invited to attend.
The new monument came about because of a conversation between Kent Deatrick of Morenci, who is Robert Deatrick’s son, and cemetery sexton Eric Emmons. Emmons said he’d like it if the cemetery had a monument to all veterans in addition to its Civil War memorial, but that he didn’t know how it could be funded.
Deatrick remembered that his mother, Betty, had set up an investment account in the 1990s in order to fund scholarships, but scholarships hadn’t been awarded from it in some time. The money was still there, however. So he began investigating how it could be used to make the dream of a veterans’ monument at Oak Grove Cemetery into a reality.
The result is a 6,000-pound black granite monument that was installed this week by Fackler Monument Company out of Montpelier, Ohio.
Deatrick’s family has a legacy of military service. In addition to his father, his mother had two brothers in the service — William Price, who served in the Navy and was lost at sea, and Vernon Harper.
Deatrick’s brother, Kirk, will speak at the dedication, and his nephew, Adam Vereecke, designed the monument.
The ceremony will also include the national anthem sung by Vada Lambert, a reading of the Declaration of Independence by Jim Clark of American Legion Post 368, speeches by elected officials, a prayer by Chris Keefer, a 21-gun salute, and playing of “Taps.”
The monument was designed with space for about 1,000 names to be inscribed on the back, which means it will be a work in progress. Deatrick plans to get the ball rolling by having his father and two uncles’ names etched into the granite, and anyone can have a veteran’s name added to it just by paying for the cost of inscription.
Commemorative T-shirts will be available and can be ordered at the dedication.