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Vietnam veterans’ effort 40 years ago gave birth to Streator Veterans Plaza · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Vietnam veterans effort forty years ago gave birth to Streeter Veterans Plaza.
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  Written by Derek Bericello This article is being read by an automated
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  voice brought to you by Everlet. Vietnam War veteran Doug Patterson Sr.
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  Remembers it was a cold, rainy autumn day when the Vietnam War
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  Memorial was dedicated 40 years ago in Streator’s City Park.
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  Patterson said several residents, including the families of the six Streator men
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  who died in the conflict, came together Oct. 25, 1986, to walk
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  from the American Legion Post 217 on West Main Street to the
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  park for a 20-minute ceremony.
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  An Oct. 27, 1986, article in The Times-Press described a somber crowd
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  at least 10 deep in some areas huddled under umbrellas.
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  While the rain is one memory of that day, another is just
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  how many different businesses and organizations rallied to bring the memorial to
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  fruition.
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  Streator is a great community, said Patterson, who wore a hat commemorating
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  the upcoming 40th anniversary. A lot of people helped get the memorial.
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  We had volunteers, donations.
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  The construction of the Vietnam Memorial served as a catalyst. At that
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  time, there was the World War II memorial at the southeastern corner
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  of the park and an overlooked memorial to World War I, but
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  no others.
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  We wanted the Vietnam veterans to be remembered, Patterson said.
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  Since then, the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial led to displays for
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  the Korean War, the Daughters of the American Revolution for the Revolutionary
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  War, for veterans of the Civil War, for Middle East conflicts and
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  for the memory of Pearl Harbor.
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  The effort also sparked a capital campaign and reconstruction of the large
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  World War II memorial.
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  That became what’s now Veterans Plaza, Patterson said of the efforts. Once
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  the Korean War veterans saw the Vietnam memorial, they asked us about
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  how they could get their own and they went to work on
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  it. Then the World War II memorial needed some improvements and they
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  were able to raise money in the community for that.
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  Patterson, who served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1968, said
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  the effort to construct a Vietnam War memorial started with 12 veterans,
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  but led to many local people helping.
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  A lot of people from the trades contributed, said Bob Harrison, a
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  Vietnam War veteran, serving in the U.S. Army engineers in 1969 and
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  1970.
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  Concrete was donated by Ransom resident Larry McCann, cement trucks by Matt
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  Dennis and the design was created by a Streator High School student
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  through a contest. Denny Hatzer and several contractors installed the memorial.
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  The nuclear power plant donated stainless steel and what’s now Vactor Manufacturing
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  welded the steel to become the flagpoles for the memorial.
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  An artistic relief on the memorial created by James Gallick depicts three
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  soldiers. The design also hangs in the American Legion post.
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  A French cannon used by the North Vietnamese in the 1950s-1960s was
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  donated and placed in the Veterans Plaza, just in front of the
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  Vietnam War Memorial.
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  Bricks were sold to raise money for the upkeep of Veterans Plaza.
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  The plaza is what it is today because of them, said Mark
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  Lowe, who served from 1972 to 1976 in the U.S. Navy. The
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  Vietnam War veterans were responsible for getting it built.
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  A plaque on the memorial remembers the six soldiers who died: Donald
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  L. Bute Navy, Herald L. Delaney Army, Timothy M. Hamilton Army, Charles
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  Schaffer Marines, Ronald L. Munson Army and Paul B. Woolford Army.
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  You fought for a cause that no one understood, the plaque says.
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  As your brothers, we understand, and will never forget the price you
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  paid in the name of freedom.