After first conceiving the idea for a Tenino Veterans Honor Roll Memorial Wall over a decade ago, the Tenino Honor Roll Committee finally broke ground for the new memorial on Saturday, March 8, at Tenino City Park.
While a veterans memorial at the park already exists, it is for residents from throughout Thurston County. This new memorial will be specific to Tenino residents and Tenino High School graduates.
“Frank, can you believe we’re finally here after all these years? This has been a long time in the making and I’m so proud to stand here with you and do this groundbreaking,” Tenino Mayor Dave Watterson said after being introduced at Saturday’s ceremony by Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 5878 Surgeon Frank Hicks. “Thank you for your diligence, and keep pushing on this.”
Hicks has been heading up the Tenino Honor Roll Committee, which also includes members of the local American Legion chapter and the South Thurston County Historical Society.
Joining Hicks and Watterson for the groundbreaking were American Legion Department of Washington District 10 Commander Frank Sterling, VFW Post 5878 Auxiliary member Trudy Burnham and South Thurston County Historical Society President Loren Ackerman.
In November 2024, the committee entered into an agreement with the City of Tenino that dictates the city will be responsible for preparing the new memorial’s site by compacting the soil and installing a gravel base, along with supplying power and water during its construction.
“I want to recognize our city council. They’re the ones that really voted to move this thing forward, because I can’t do this on my own,” Watterson said.
The Tenino Honor Roll Committee handled designing and engineering the monument and will be providing gravel needed for the base along with covering all other construction costs.
Once completed, the Tenino Veterans Honor Roll Memorial Wall will be 13 feet long, 6 feet, 10 inches tall and 2 feet, 8 inches wide.
It will be composed of Tenino sandstone, Wilkeson sandstone, Pennsylvania bluestone, polished granite, concrete building blocks and plaster, according to design blueprints displayed at the groundbreaking.
Hicks told those in attendance he hopes to see it standing by this summer, as long as no other major issues arise.
VFW Post 5878 is holding a fundraiser to help pay for construction costs, including selling paving bricks for the memorial for $100 and honor-donor bricks for $1,000.
The honor-donor bricks will be included in the monument. Additionally, Hicks has pledged his estate to ensure all financial costs will be met if the necessary funding to complete the monument isn’t raised.
So far, they have raised just under $10,000, according to the VFW Post 5878 treasurer. Hicks told The Chronicle he anticipates it will most likely cost around $30,000 or more to complete the new memorial after the groundbreaking.
“There have been a lot of unknown costs we didn’t know we were going to have,” Hicks said.
Those interested in purchasing either a paving brick or honor-donor brick to help fund the new monument can visit VFW Post 5878 in Tenino to fill out the donation form and make their donation.
VFW Post 5878 is located at 285 Sussex Ave. E. in downtown Tenino. For more information, call VFW Post 5878 at 360-264-5420 or join the Friends of VFW Post 5878 Tenino, WA Facebook group at https://tinyurl.com/26ch7unr.
