BERNARDSTON — With the 20th anniversary of the veterans memorial in Cushman Park approaching, the three members of the Veterans Memorial Committee and their spouses have set their sights on making the area as pristine as possible.
A work bee earlier this month involved raking, removing downed trees and fallen limbs, and pruning back limbs that might fall soon, according to Veterans Memorial Committee Chair Marvin Shedd. The monuments will also be power-washed sometime within the next month.
“Since it’s the 20th anniversary, we just wanted it to be really sharp-looking in time for Memorial Day,” Shedd explained. “We have a big turnout in Bernardston for the parade and the program.”
The volunteer work comes following fall cleanup efforts that involved the Veterans Memorial Committee — consisting of Shedd, his son Danny Shedd and Selectboard member Stanley Garland — hiring Keene Monument Co. to clean the benches and some of the other bigger monuments. Danny Shedd cleaned the name markers and Tree Warden Brad Bordewieck did some landscaping. Plus, two tattered flags were replaced.
“The people of Bernardston take their veterans’ service very seriously,” Marvin Shedd explained. “We expect to have a good-looking monument. There’s always a little bit of sprucing up that can be done.”
For the Shedds, the significance of the veterans memorial hits particularly close to home. Marvin’s father, Allan Shedd, who served in World War II, is one of Bernardston’s three POWs (prisoners of war). Additionally, because Danny lives nearby on Dewey Street, he has paid close attention to the monuments since before he even joined the committee. In fact, he unveiled the memorial back in 2002.
“When your father was a POW, this is just the kind of thing that you do,” Marvin Shedd said of his memorial cleanup efforts.
While the Veterans Memorial Committee has a minimal budget mostly intended for upkeep and maintenance, in the future, Shedd said the board would like to install additional benches as visitors enter the memorial, “so people can sit and reflect,” and would like to ensure better accessibility to the POW monument.
“You can get there, but you’ve got to go over the grass,” he said, adding that pavement or a stone pathway would better accommodate a wheelchair.
“The fear is always that we’ll have to add more names or add another stone,” Shedd noted. “Hopefully we don’t ever have to do that, but it’s always a possibility.”
Shedd said he is working with the Bernardston Veterans Club and the Marine Corps League Oak Ridge Detachment to align Memorial Day events, to be announced at a later date.
Reach Shelby Ashline at 413-772-0261, ext. 270 or sashline@recorder.com.