After Four Years Middleboro War Memorial Drive Successful

12-8-66 War Memorial Drive Successful…..Special to the New Bedford Standard Times

Middleboro:- The four year campaign of Police Chief Harold E. Tower, Jr., for a $4,000 fund for a War Memorial for Town Hall lawn is over. It reached its goal this week with some nine donations—the largest of which was $563 from Mrs. Lucy Turner of North Main Street.

Started in 1962 when Chief Tower was commander of Simeon L. Nickerson Post 64, American Legion, the fund drive has been subject to ups and downs as the years went by.
When tallied this week, Stanley E. Barnicoat, local monument maker went to Vermont to choose the granite for the four-section piece. It will be lettered here and plans for its dedication are scheduled for May 30, 1967.

The monument is scheduled to be 16 feet long with a center panel 10 feet high and wing panels rising 6 feet from the ground. The entire piece will be set on a granite slab.
The panel to the left will bear the names of World War 1 dead and the panel on the right will carry names of World War 2 dead. The lower center panel will carry names of those who died in the Korean War. Some 38 names are slated for the memorial and a place for will be reserved for any Middleboro persons giving their lives in Viet Nam.

The stone will be “dedicated to those men and women who served in the armed forces in all wars of this nation.”

Most recent donations listed include Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCrillis, Jr., Leona Farm, in memory of Francis W. Morrison, Mrs. Charles Smith, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Francis Bell, Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Oldfield, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Soule and Mrs. Turner.

The monument is expected to be placed within the crescent in front of the razed Bates School building and will be in line with the Civil War statue. Chief Tower hopes to have a walk leading to the monument placed there at a later date.
..................... (Posted by Bob Lessard, Historian 2014)