LINDEN-The Marengo Memorial Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5377 added another 121 paving bricks; each one engraved paying tribute to a local veteran to the “Walk of Honor” on Wednesday. The “Walk of Honor” surrounds the 20,000-pound, five-sided Veterans Monument that currently sits in front of the Marengo County Courthouse honoring the servicemen and women of Marengo County.

Dick Kirkpatrick of the VFW said Doric-South was helping them with the engraving of the 121 new bricks as well as fixing the wrong bricks and the bricks that have been damaged before the Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday. He also said after these new bricks were laid, there would only be room for about 160 more. He said if anyone would be interested in purchasing a brick on the “Walk of Honor” please call the VFW for information.

“We’ve been here since 6 a.m. this morning getting these new bricks laid and making sure everything is good for Monday,” Kirkpatrick said.

Jason Turberville with Doric-South said they put stencils on the bricks and then they sandblast them to engrave the names in. He also said fixing the damaged ones was going to be the hardest because he would have to get a hammer and smash them to get them out.

The Memorial Day Ceremony will be held at the monument on Monday, May 31 at 11 a.m. Commander Tom Compton, Jr. of VFW Post 5377 and Commander Tom Boggs, Jr. of American Legion Post 41, along with the Ladies Auxiliaries of both Posts, will be laying wreaths to honor our departed veterans. This program is designed to let anyone briefly speak about a fallen veteran.

Everyone is asked to attend and honor our veterans lost in war as well as those lost after their service to our country. The VFW will also be conducting their Memorial Day Buddy Poppy drive on Saturday, May 29.

In 1923, the VFW was the first Veterans organization to promote a nationally organized campaign for the annual distribution of Poppies assembled by disabled or hospitalized veterans. That tradition continues today.

Last year, they made about 14 million poppies. These veterans are paid for their work as a rehabilitation project. In many cases, these were the only funds they received all year.

This is the only Post fundraiser of the year to help our local veterans in need. All donations received by Post 5377 stay in our local area. These funds are restricted to support all local veterans in need, their widows and children, to perpetuate the memory of departed comrades, and to promote Americanism in our schools and other youth organizations.

Some of these funds will be used to erect flagpoles in local community cemeteries like those placed in Riverside and Memorial Gardens in Demopolis. The Old Linden Cemetery and the cemetery located on East Coats Avenue in Linden are scheduled to have flagpoles installed.