Archer Lodge Veterans Memorial dedicated in Veterans Day ceremony By Randy Capps
ARCHER LODGE — It’s tough to miss the Archer Lodge Veterans Memorial on Buffalo Road. The seven flag poles reaching into the sky catch the eye of passing motorists. The poles, and the memorial itself, provide a sudden burst of scenery next door to Town Hall. It was a project that took nearly five years to complete, but aside from a bit of minor landscaping, the Archer Lodge Veterans Memorial is finished. “We really wanted to get it done and to a point where we could dedicate it on (Nov. 10),” Doug Long, a member of the Archer Lodge Veterans Memorial, said. “We figured, let’s just put the grass down and get it going and we’ll worry about the rest later.” The committee raised much of the money necessary for the project the old fashioned way — with food. “Pretty much what you’re looking at was built on biscuits,” Long said. “Every month, we’d have a biscuit sale and make 12 to 15 hundred dollars.” The Town of Archer Lodge donated the land for the memorial and helped defray some of the cost. The county also chipped in $35,000 near the end of the project. That money helped get the flagpoles erected, Long said. There’s a fallen soldier statue at the entrance to the memorial, and area veterans are honored in bricks and stone in front of the granite centerpiece. There’s a nod to each service in the design as well. “When you enter the memorial circle, the service medallions are placed in the star points by age of inception,” Long said. “Going from right to left, for example, the Army is on the right after you enter since it was the first service. The Marine Corps is to
The Archer Lodge Veterans Memorial Committee members are Mike Mulhollem, CoChair and Treasurer, Saundra Freeman, Co-Chair, Connie Mulhollem, Secretary, J.Mark Jackson, Assistant Treasurer, Mike Gordon, Mark Wilson, Doug Long, Sue Boyette and Jim Purvis. Committee member Daniel Wall is not pictured.
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