As Washburn’s August Festival nears, one thing is certain: the town’s veterans park will grow. It’s happened nearly every year since 2018.
This year, a bronze Vietnam soldier statue will take its place beside military flags, a collection of memorials and a brick walkway dedicated to those who served.
It’s the park’s costliest project yet and the first specifically to honor Vietnam veterans.
Washburn’s veterans site is nowhere near the size of larger memorials, such as Bangor’s Korean War Memorial or Lewiston’s Veterans Memorial park, to name just two. But the small park in a town of about 1,500 people manages to keep growing and, more than that, teach younger generations about patriotism.
Most of the projects have been spearheaded by local Scouts seeking community service projects to become Eagle Scouts. And organizer Larry Harrison, a Rotarian, Scoutmaster and retired Air Force master sergeant, believes the experience of honoring veterans gives youth what nothing else can.
“I think citizenship is what’s really getting instilled in them,” Harrison said. “The other youth at their age don’t recognize this, but they know now what the military means and what they’ve done.”
Scout projects have included cleaning up an old cannon donated to the town — it’s so old no one alive remembers exactly where it came from, Harrison said — creating stone walkways, adding benches and lighting, and placing an arrangement of flags to represent each military branch.
This year prospective Eagle Scout Luke Gordon has installed two more flagpoles with flags honoring Vietnam veterans and military working dogs.
The work is educating Scouts, but also other kids who are telling their families about everything the park signifies, he said. In fact, a woman stopped him in town to tell him how her grandson instructed his parents about the history behind all the different monuments.
The Washburn Rotary Club — which numbers 12 members — also participates. In 2022, the club launched a walkway with 151 bricks engraved with local veterans’ names and service branches. The path now holds 366 bricks, with more added each year.
A monument placed in 2023 honors the late Edward Dahlgren, a Perham native and Medal of Honor recipient. A bronze battle cross was installed in 2023, and last year’s project was a bronze German shepherd to honor all the military dogs that served at the former Loring Air Force Base. That statue rests among more bricks with names of the dogs and their handlers.
Harrison said the local Rotary and Scouts made it happen. Town Manager Donna Turner said it happened because Harrison spearheaded everything.
“What he’s done in such a short period of time in that park is amazing,” Turner said. “I just can’t say enough about what he’s done and all the money he’s raised to make all of it happen.”
The dog tribute cost just under $10,000. This year’s Vietnam soldier statue carries a price tag of $19,600, with the base and installation coming in at $3,000 more.
For a while, Harrison was on pins and needles wondering if it would all come together. He had to pay half the 5-foot statue’s cost to order it in March, and donations came in to cover that. As for the rest, they’re almost there, he said. He anticipates donations will come in at the August Festival to meet the final amount.
There were some hairy moments. The manufacturers put an incorrect base on the statue, so they had to redo it, which took an extra week and a half. It had to be shipped from China to California, then across the country to Maine.
Around mid-July, “they transferred it onto a trailer and it sat there for three days,” Harrison said. “I called, and they were waiting to get the trailer full. I said, ‘No, I need this.’”
Turner joked that at one point Harrison asked her if she could stand still for an hour or so for the dedication in case the bronze figure didn’t come in on time.
But it arrived in Washburn Tuesday, and will be unveiled during a ceremony at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the park. While it will honor all Vietnam veterans, it will be dedicated to the memory of two of Aroostook County’s 38 soldiers killed in the conflict: Dellwyn Fitch of Perham and Stuart Woodman of Washburn.
The additions have been a highlight of the Washburn August Festival, now in its 45th year, Turner said.
The park has drawn many people to Washburn, she and Harrison said. Images shared on social media have shown people of all ages, from The County and beyond, searching for their loved ones’ names among the monuments and bricks, even at night.
“When I look at this park, I’m just in awe of everything that’s happened,” Turner said. “It’s not just a good thing for this tri-community area. It’s good for the entire county.”