FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    John Ebling, Lee County Veterans Services
                (941) 339-6225

Rededication Ceremony June 29, 2001 - VIEW PHOTOS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 25, 2001) – Lee County will rededicate its Veterans Memorial Plaque Friday (June 29) with a ceremony that commemorates the addition of 33 names to the monument and the placement of a viewing bench in front of the memorial.

There are 152 names on the plaque.

The ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. in front of the Old County Courthouse, 2120 Main Street in downtown Fort Myers. In case of rain, the event will be moved to the nearby County Administration Building.

Over the last several months, the existing plaque – on a stone in front of the Old Courthouse – was updated to add those county residents who died since 1967 fighting in U.S. wars. The original plaque was erected in November 1967.

Alice Peters, general manager of Springwood Court by Marriott Assisted Living Community, spearheaded the effort along with the Lee County Veterans Services Office and County Commissioner Andy Coy, who is the Commission’s liaison for Veterans Affairs. Mary Charles Chernin, a long time resident of Lee County, came up with the idea of updating the plaque several years ago.

Peters got involved in the project after one of her residents, Gordon Colcord, 84, asked to display a 1965 Memorial Day News-Press article that listed those Lee County residents who had died in battle since World War I. The article, titled "Lest We Forget," included many of Colcord’s friends who died in World War II. Peters wanted to complete the list but couldn’t find anyone who had kept it updated.

The county’s Veterans Services Office worked to update the list, asking for help from the community to make sure names were correct and the list was as complete as possible.

In November 1967, the original Veterans Memorial Plaque was placed on a large stone in the northwest corner of the grounds of the Old Lee County Courthouse. The stone that supports the plaque was found during the early development stages of Cape Coral. The Parks & Recreation director at the time, Park T. Piggott, Sr., saw the stone and thought that the shape resembled a cross. He thought this would be the perfect support for the memorial plaque. Over the years, however, it fell into disrepair and was never updated to include those who died serving their country after 1967.

"As we watch movies like ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ ‘Pearl Harbor,’ and ‘Schindler’s List,’" says Commissioner Coy, 41, "my generation – the generation that never had to fight a war unless we were involved in the Persian Gulf War – can in some ways better understand what the people on this monument were fighting for."