Eagle Scout project honors Van Buren's veterans

VAN BUREN — Jacob Deiter said he's learned a lot about leadership over the past two years. During that time, the 17-year-old Van Buren High School senior has been working on his Eagle Scout project, which involves erecting a memorial on the town square to honor area veterans. Jacob said he hopes to have the memorial completed by Veterans Day. "Your Eagle Scout project is really supposed to be you showing your leadership skills and being able to communicate with others. That's pretty much what it boils down to," said Jacob. "Those are skills I've definitely learned." Jacob, who is a member of Van Buren Boy Scout Troop 313, said the idea came up when he was talking with Van Buren Mayor Ed May about possible Eagle Scout projects. "He was like, 'I'd really like to do something for the veterans of Van Buren.' I started thinking of some ideas, and we kind of decided on a memorial," Jacob said. According to May, the village had been considering different ways to honor its veterans for a while. "And when Jacob came to us talking about his Eagle Scout project, I said to him, 'What do you think about a veterans' memorial?'" said May. "He just took the lead and went with it." Jacob said he visited memorials in Bloomdale, Ney, McComb and Leipsic for inspiration. "The original layout was not this. It has changed since the beginning," he said. "We kind of wanted to integrate a lot of different components, and this is how we chose to do that." The memorial will include a sidewalk with engraved bricks to honor area veterans; seven flag poles, one for each branch of service along with the United States and POW flags; and a granite memorial stone. "So we have a walkway in the front here, which is the paver walkway. As you can see some of those bricks have names engraved in them," he said. The bricks actually became a fundraiser to help pay for the project, he added. Community members are able to purchase a brick for $40 that can be added to the walkway. Bricks can be engraved with up to three lines of lettering. "Basically the first line we save for a name, so the name of the veteran," Jacob said. "The center is normally the branch of service or if you have a specific unit you served in or if you have some more specifics rather than just a branch, you can put that in there." He said the dates or the conflict served typically goes on the third line. More than 150 bricks had been purchased as of July. Even after his part of the project is complete, community members can continue to purchase bricks, Jacob said. "The total walkway is 1,800 bricks, so we've got plenty of room for more expansion, which is another goal we had at the beginning. We want this to continue to develop," he said. The walkway will measure about 80 feet in length. Jacob said the sidewalk will eventually lap around the memorial. "It's also allowing us to use the wheelchair accessibility on the already existing sidewalk, so that was another good reason why we decided to make it a full loop," he explained. A 4-by-6-foot piece of black granite will set in the middle of the memorial, flanked by the seven flagpoles. "That's kind of the nice thing about this location is we were really able to place it in the center of Van Buren. That was kind of our goal," said Jacob. He noted that a lot of people have helped with the actual construction. Kershner Excavating in McComb helped with preparing the ground, laying the underlayment stone and doing concrete work, while a grant from Hancock-Wood Electric Cooperative in North Baltimore helped purchase the flagpoles. The Van Buren Lions Club donated money toward the actual monument itself. Other offers of help and donations came from the Home Depot Distribution Center, Flag City Flagpoles and Flags, National Lime and Stone, K&L Concrete, North Baltimore American Legion Post 529, Findlay AMVETS Post 21 and Ashcraft Tree Service, he said. "There are a lot of people involved in this whole project," said Jacob. "So that was a big learning experience for me was being able to communicate to everyone and get that straightened away." May said Jacob has done a great job with the memorial. "He is a hard-working young man and very dedicated to this project, which is amazing," said May. "This definitely has exceeded my expectations." Jacob said the project will continue, with the village eventually taking over the brick orders and upkeep of the memorial. "This will be here for a long time," he said. "Anyone can make a park bench, but eventually the park bench might go away. Well, I don't see this going away for a while." Memorial brick order forms can be obtained by emailing vbtroop313@gmail.com Wolf: 419-427-8419