Sept. 11: 9/11 ceremony honors WWI veterans

By Cathy McKenzie, WSU Mount Vernon

Sundance-at-memorial-80MOUNT VERNON, Wash. – Veterans will be honored and the 100th anniversary of World War I commemorated at a public ceremony at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, in the Discovery Garden at Washington State University Mount Vernon, 16650 State Route 536 (Memorial Highway).

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Rich Sundance at the WWI veterans memorial at WSU Mount Vernon. (Photos by Kim Binczewski, WSU)

The war began July 28, 1914, and the ceremony “was planned in conjunction with other 9/11 events to celebrate the lives of veterans,” said Rich Sundance, a retired U.S. Navy chief who is commander of the Disabled American Veterans’ outpatient clinic in Mount Vernon.

The event will be led by Mayor Jill Boudreau and is sponsored by the nonprofit Veteran Monument Project.

The project, which is restoring six memorial locations in the Skagit Valley, in 2008 placed the WWI veterans memorial just west of the WSU research center in the public garden maintained by WSU Extension master gardener volunteers.

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A tablet in the garden commemorates WWI veterans and Memorial Highway, which was dedicated to them in 1931.

“We are honored to have the memorial housed here,” said research center director Steve Jones. “It is our responsibility to not let these brave souls be forgotten.”

“This whole monument restoration process has instilled new life in many of the old-timer veterans who have helped clean up our local gravestones, markers and monuments,” Sundance said. “It’s a real heartfelt thing to do.”

 

Contacts:
Steve Jones, WSU Mount Vernon, 360-416-5210, joness@wsu.edu

Rich Sundance, Disabled American Veterans, 360-420-4046,
richardsundance@comcast.net