WWI memorial in Greene County to be dedicated on 100th anniversary of armistice
A French artist, Joel Pauws, painted this mural of the American flag on thick paper and sent it to Greene County to commemorate the 58 Greene County soldiers who died in World War I. It sits in the school house near the Greene County Historical Society on Rolling Meadows Road.
A poster board with portraits of some of the 58 Greene County soldiers who died in World War I sits in the school house near the Greene County Historical Society on Rolling Meadows Road.
Greene County will remember its own this Veterans Day during a dedication ceremony for a newly built World War I memorial a century after the end of The Great War.
Glenn Toothman stands next to a newly built World War I memorial in Franklin Township.
The memorial was designed and constructed earlier this year and sits behind the tennis courts at 918 Rolling Meadows Road in Franklin Township. The service will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday, marking the 100th anniversary of the war’s end, which was Nov. 11, 1918.
“It seems to be a forgotten war,” said Glenn Toothman, one of the organizers of the event.
He and Candice Buchanan worked together to research and co-author two books about soldiers from Greene County who died in the war. They spent time in France, researching their stories and walking the fields where battles claimed their lives.
Candice Buchanan and Glenn Toothman sit in his home with a book they co-authored about 58 Greene County soldiers who died in World War I.
“We felt we knew this county had a story to tell and a remembrance to show,” he said.
The granite memorial has a list of names of the 58 Greene County men who died in WWI.
“These are names that are still very common around here today,” he said.
A newly constructed World War I memorial in Franklin Township will be dedicated Sunday morning.
Buchanan said the men started to arrive in France in May 1918. She said most of them were single men, but three were married and two had children. The youngest of Greene County’s soldiers to die was 19, and the oldest was 36. The first to die was Joseph Horner Bissett, who was killed in action July 18, 1918. The last of the 58 to die was Ragan Hughes Pipes, who died on Feb. 28, 1919, from the flu epidemic.
“The research is never done,” Buchanan said. “We still have families coming to us with pictures and stories. All that can continue to grow. It’s so much more than names.”
Glenn Toothman unwraps a newly built World War I memorial in Franklin Township. Toothman was instrumental in getting it built and in organizing a dedication ceremony to be held Sunday morning.
Extending from the memorial is a sidewalk lined with 58 Cleveland pear trees and 58 posts with solar-powered lights on top. Each post has a name on it and a QR code that links to a website, MemoryMedallion.com, with that soldier’s story, pictures and family information.
“We wanted these boys individually remembered,” Toothman said. “We purposely made it for interaction, and we can easily add a picture or video.”
Buchanan and Toothman started working on the project last December. They and the Greene County Legacy Association committee collected more than $30,000 in various community donations to have the work completed. Terry Grimes and Michael Belding also sit on the committee.
While researching the names and stories in France, they made connections and friendships over there – public officials who wanted to help with the project. One French artist, Joel Pauws, painted a mural of the American flag that’s hanging in the schoolhouse on the property near the memorial.
“We kept thanking them for their help and they would say, ‘No, thank you for your soldiers coming to save us,'” Buchanan said.
Toothman and Buchanan said the French village mayors who helped with their project offered them a “glass of friendship,” a champagne toast. Toothman said that after Sunday’s ceremony, they will have another ceremonial friendship toast with French champagne that was sent home with him. He said the French officials, who plan to watch the streamlined ceremony on Facebook, will join in the toast, but with American bourbon.
A newly constructed World War I memorial in Franklin Township will be dedicated Sunday morning to the 58 Greene County soldiers who died in the war.
Buchanan said she also expects several relatives of the 58 men to come from different states to participate in the memorial dedication.
“We’ve made discoveries and learned so much, but particularly touching has been the families coming forward and getting involved,” she said. “It’s just really special to see that.”
Waynesburg University President Doug Lee will be the keynote speaker for the ceremony, and the names will be read before a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.”
Toothman said the Greene County Historical Society will be open after the ceremony and will have a WWI exhibit with artifacts Toothman and Buchanan brought back from France.
There also will be a Veterans Day parade, sponsored by the Veterans Council of Greene County, at 11 a.m. Sunday on High Street in Waynesburg.