By Betty Lou Gaeng
Perspectivepast@gmail.com
May is not only the month when we recognize the preservation of our history, but also when we honor our veterans on Memorial Day. Here is a story of both preservation and honor.
The year was 1948, almost three years after the end of World War II, and the country was at peace. The Quartermaster Corps of the U.S. Army had been busy locating and identifying the remains of our young service people who had lost their lives during that terrible world-wide conflict.
That year, as thousands of caskets began arriving at our train stations, S.A. (Al) Wilcox, commander of American Legion Post 90 of Alderwood Manor, and other members of the post decided the local communities should have a permanent memorial to honor the young men of Edmonds School District 15 who had died serving their country. During the war, these young men had left their homes in Edmonds and the nearby communities of Alderwood Manor, Lynnwood, Seattle Heights, Esperance, Meadowdale and Cedar Valley and — at last — some were returning to their families to rest in home soil.
The American Legion post decided the memorial should be a large granite monument listing the names of each young man who had attended the schools in the area and had who died during World War II as well as those who died in World War I. The post needed to raise money for this project, and it did.
One of the first to reach deep into her pocketbook was an elderly widow, Odessa Patterson. During the Great Depression, Patterson and her husband raised a large family in Alderwood Manor. Like so many during those hard times, they had little in worldly goods. However, one of the young men to be honored by this memorial would be Patterson’s orphaned grandson, Danny Leonard. He was one of those brought home in his casket and buried at the cemetery in Edmonds. Danny had come from an orphanage in Seattle at age 8 to live with his grandparents. He attended Alderwood Manor Grade School and Edmonds High School, and as a 20-year-old enlisted soldier in the Army, Danny was serving in the Philippines shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor when Corregidor and Bataan fell into the hands of the Japanese.
Seventy-five years ago, Danny Leonard survived the infamous Bataan Death March, only to suffer and die in May 1942 at one of the enemy’s POW camps.
Patterson was not the only one to find a bit of money to add to the collection — many others came forth, and soon the project was completed. At first, the memorial included 45 names — five from World War I and 40 from World War II. A short time later, one more name from World War II was added. Inscribed above the list of names were the words: “Dedicated to those of School District 15 who made the supreme sacrifice in the service of their country 1917-1918 and 1941-1945.”
The monument’s first home was on land the American Legion Post owned on the east side of Highway 99 just south of 180th Street SW. The monument’s location was the south corner of the property where today Lynnwood’s 52nd Avenue W. joins Highway 99.
The 7-foot granite monument was dedicated on Memorial Day 1948 in an impressive and well-attended ceremony. For the next few years, ceremonies on Memorial Day were held next to the memorial monument. Often, American Legion Post 90 was joined by Seattle Heights Veterans of Foreign War Post 1040 and Edmonds Frank Freese Post 66 of the American Legion. However, the location had limited parking and — perhaps because of this — each year, fewer people attended the ceremonies.
By 1954, Legion Cmdr. Wilcox had died, the land owned by the post was sold and the memorial monument was moved to the parking lot of the new Lynnwood Junior High School near the crossroads of Lynnwood. At first, the Memorial Day ceremonies at the school were well-attended. Once again, however, this did not remain a popular spot for either Memorial Day or Veterans Day observances.
In 1981, when Lynnwood Junior High School closed its doors, the monument became a derelict and was left to lean against an unused building on the deserted school grounds. It seemed to be forgotten, its history and meaning lost to time. Abandoned, the monument became a target for vandalism.
The following year, having seen what was happening to the memorial, retired World War II Air Force ace pilot Col. Bill Crump, the newly installed commander of Edmonds’ American Legion Post 66, decided something needed to be done. This was a very personal matter for him, as many of the young men who had lost their lives during World War II had been his classmates at Edmonds High School.
According to a 1982 article in the Everett Herald, Crump became the leader of a project to save the memorial by having it moved to what was considered a more fitting spot. The new home was in front of the Edmonds Historical Museum in the former Carnegie Library building, 118 Fifth Ave. in downtown Edmonds. Crump felt that this was a good location for the memorial because it was a part of history.
He also said: “We have the most visitors at this central location in Edmonds.”
In order to move, restore and update the monument, the Legion post again asked the public for donations — and again people were generous.
After the move, an extension was added at the foot of the monument listing the names of the local young men who had lost their lives in Korea and Vietnam — seven names for Korea and 24 names for Vietnam.
In more recent times, two more names have been inscribed: One for a career Army man from Edmonds who was killed in the 9/11 act of terrorism at the Pentagon, and another for a young Marine from Lynnwood who lost his life in Iraq in 2004. Seventy-nine names are now inscribed on the memorial. On February 21, 2005, several local veterans’ organizations gathered in Edmonds for a rededication ceremony.
However, Crump’s hope that this would be a permanent home for the monument was not to be. As people hurried by, few seemed to notice its existence. Once again the memorial’s significance to the community appeared lost. As a result, 35 years following its last move, a decision was made by the city of Edmonds to move this historic and well-traveled monument for the fourth — and they hope — final time.
Later this year, the monument will be moved to a more appropriate location at the Edmonds Memorial Cemetery and Columbarium, 820 15th St. SW in Edmonds. There, in a park-like setting, the memorial will become a viable part of the history of southwest Snohomish County. It seems fitting that several of the young men whose names are etched into the stone face of the memorial monument are buried close by its future home.
Each year on Memorial Day our veterans are remembered by an always well-attended ceremony held at the cemetery. This year the 35th Annual Memorial Day observance will pay tribute to those who served in Vietnam, with special honors to be paid to those who lost their lives during that conflict. The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. May 29.
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