Salem to dedicate veterans memorial

SALEM — Cemeteries where military veterans are interred should become places of learning and knowledge, Mayor Randy Brailsford says.

That thought has been part of the motivation for a veterans memorial that will be dedicated at the Salem Cemetery on Monday.

Brailsford, who began pushing the memorial idea in 1989, has been the key figure behind getting the memorial finished, said City Councilman Early Davis.

The mayor said the soldiers interred at the cemetery — both men and women — and those still living are part of the history students are studying. Brailsford said bringing students to the cemetery and allowing them to interact with living veterans from the American Legion would provide valuable lessons for the students.

"The cemetery is a place of peace and honor, but it also should be a place of knowledge for our youth," Brailsford said. "We should invite the American Legion to meet (students) there and tell them about these (military) stories. We ought to be capitalizing on their knowledge."

Monday the American Legion will dedicate five statues by Orem sculptor LeRoy Stansfield representing the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. The new memorial will replace the tradition of placing individual flags on the graves of veterans on Memorial Day. One hundred eighty-six veterans are interred in the cemetery, going back to World War I, Brailsford noted. "We wanted a year-round memorial."

The memorial cost $52,000 to build. Some $30,000 in donations has been raised so far, Brailsford said. "We'll get the rest soon."

"City crews have been up the doing some things, but it's strictly donations" that paid for the memorial, Davis said.

The statues will be unveiled during an 8 a.m. ceremony that will include a flag raising by the American Legion, the Salem All Stars elementary school choir, the Spanish Fork High School band and a musical number by Miss Salem, Julie Anderson, and her attendants, Kandis Johnson, Julie Applegate and Summer Isaman, Davis said.

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