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Date: 11/20/2023
GRANBY — Following a dozen years of planning and fundraising, Granby Memorial Park was given its official soft launch on Veterans Day. A packed crowd of residents showed support for the day of honor and celebration for the new memorial.
The park showcases a stone wall monument decorated with plaques engraved with hundreds of names of Granby veterans, dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War and more recently up to the war in Afghanistan. The memorial has been built on an elevated site at the corner of State and North streets with materials and labor donated by community members.
Also featured within the new memorial is a tank donated from Fort Devens and a flower garden, as well as newly planted trees around the site. The American Legion presented the park to the community on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, and members spoke briefly about the years of work to honor the town’s veterans that has now culminated with the soft launch.
“We honor and salute those who served our country throughout the generations, with honor, patriotism and courage. And whereas it is appropriate that all Massachusetts citizens remember the bravery of those who served their country so that their dedication and sacrifices serve as a reminder of the cost of our freedom,” the town’s proclamation read.
Another ceremony will take place on Memorial Day 2024 that will serve as an official launch of the park where grass will be grown in and other areas of the project will be completed. Also planned to be completed in the park before its official opening is the addition of a gazebo, benches, gravel pathways and decorative flowers. Flags of each military division will also fly at the entrance of the park.
Granby Veterans Memorial Committee member Steve Weatherbee spoke to the packed crowd about the day and memorial being added to the community.
“All on this wall wrote that blank check made payable to the United States of America for an amount up to, and including their lives. It was for this reason that the Veterans Memorial Committee chose to honor the service of all Granby veterans, past present and future. For all the veterans here today, thank you for your service, and your part in keeping this nation free,” Weatherbee said.
Granby Veterans Memorial Committee Chair Jason Richard spoke about the project and said most of the materials and labor for the project were donated or offered at a discount from the community. With the town’s assistance the entire project was able to be covered by $175,000.
The project received a much-appreciated boost to get it to this point for Veterans’ Day and in preparation for the official opening in May thanks to The Home Depot Foundation partnering with the Friends of Granby Veterans.
The Home Depot Foundation’s national “Operation Surprise” campaign mobilized Team Depot, the company’s associate volunteer force, a week prior to Veterans Day where volunteers did landscaping work at the memorial and added trees, shrubs and perennials in enhancing the parks looks leading up to the soft launch.
The “Operation Surprise” campaign seeks to create life-change moments for veterans through acts of service. Team Depot spends most of the month undertaking hundreds of service projects in honor of Veterans Day, creating unexpected moments of joy and gratitude along the way.
“The cornerstone of the Granby Veterans Memorial Park are the names inscribed on the bronze plaques before you. They serve as the honor roll that lists the names of Granby veterans that have served their great nation in times of war and peace. May they always be remembered and never forgotten. This park will serve as a means to that end,” Richards said.
The Granby Veterans Memorial project began over a decade ago when citizens wanted to create a place to honor the town’s veterans. Originally, four bronze plaques and two marble plaques with the names of town veterans from the Civil War to the Vietnam War were hung in the old town offices and were moved to the Granby Public Library following town offices moving to West State Street.
The committee was formed in 2012 and after initial discussions decided to avoid the bureaucratic hurdles that could arise from a nonprofit handling the money for the project and decided to let the town government figure it out. This led to the partnering of the Granby Veterans Memorial Committee and Friends of Granby Veterans coming together to get the project done.
“The park has taken shape over the past several months and especially over the past two weeks. Everything fell into place as if it was meant to be,” Richards said. “None of this would be possible if not for the many volunteers, contractors and local businesses that have donated hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars to see our vision come to fruition.”
Richards concluded by saying, “We hope this park will serve as a place to honor our veterans and become a cherished place within the town of Granby. Our hope is that it will be visited throughout the year, not only on Veterans Day and Memorial Day.”
According to the Granby Veterans Memorial website, veterans can be added to the memorial if they served in active duty at least one day, received an honorable discharge and lived in Granby for 10 years. Veterans killed in action will be identified with an asterisk.
Any Granby citizen who wishes to add a name to the memorial can apply on the Granby Veterans Memorial website. Richards said during the soft launch that anyone interested in submitting an application does so before Jan. 31, 2023 to ensure the applied name can be added before the Memorial Day event. If unable to apply by then, names will still be continue to be added throughout the future through the same application process.