SNOHOMISH — A monument honoring fallen soldiers from the Snohomish area is being relocated.
The War Memorial, a 6-foot-tall stone marble monument over a 5-foot-wide base made of concrete, is being moved to the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery, 8601 Riverview Road, from the Carnegie Building. This is to protect it from any possible damage it could be exposed to while the Carnegie goes through rehabilitation.
The goal is to have the monument at its new location in time for Memorial Day.
As a way to commemorate the moving, a ceremony is being organized to honor veterans and all members of the military who have died while serving the country at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Carnegie Building, 105 Cedar Ave., Saturday was chosen because it’s also Armed Forces Day.
Between 30 and 40 people are expected to attend, which would include veterans. Guest speakers are scheduled as part of the 45-minute event, which include a veteran from World War II and the Korean War.
The event is being organized by the city, the Snohomish Carnegie Foundation, Earl Winehart Post No. 96 of the American Legion, and Gay Jones Post 921 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
All the work is being done by volunteers. The monument is planned to be at the cemetery throughout the construction project, which could take years.
“It’s important to move it because we don’t want it to be damaged in anyway,” said Pat Guyot, commander of the American Legion Post No. 96.
The monument is important because it provides inspiration, councilman Greg Guedel said.
The monument was built in the early 1960s. It includes about 80 names of soldiers in the area who died from World War I to the recent conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
After the work at the library is done, the monument will be moved to the south side of the building, said Melody Clemans, president of the Snohomish Carnegie Foundation.
“It would be a very nice setting for it,” she said.
The foundation is planning a $3.5 million rehabilitation project with the intention to make it a community center for outdoors, cultural and educational events.
Currently, the city has $878,000 provided by a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington state and local funds to retrofit the Carnegie for earthquakes, which is a different phase of the rehabilitation efforts. This part of the work is schedule to start in August at the earliest, Clemans said.
Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.
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