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Vietnam War Memorial set to undergo repairs as it marks its 10th anniversary

Repairs are planned for the Vietnam War Memorial in West Manchester Township, York County. Harold Redding is one veteran who has been asking when repairs would ...
vietnam

Repairs are planned for the Vietnam War Memorial in West Manchester Township, York County.

Harold Redding is one veteran who has been asking when repairs would happen. He showed FOX43 a missing pillar, uneven bricks and granite issues. He said the memorial is a great thing for the community, but "someone I felt needed to speak out about the condition of it."

This month marks the memorial's 10th anniversary.

"These names around this memorial make it hallowed ground. It needs to be treated with the respect and there's nothing respectful about allowing this to happen," said Redding.

The York State Fair and York Expo Center, however, told FOX43, "we are aware of the repairs that need to be made and have been working for the last few months to find a company to handle some of the repairs."

As for the missing pillar, they add there was no intentional damage or vandalism made to it that they know of.

Officials explained the process for repairs in a statement released to FOX43:

We are aware of the repairs that need to be made and have been working for the last few months to find a company to handle some of the repairs. To our knowledge, there was no intentional damage or vandalism to the post or “”tier” in question. The company that originally cast those posts is no longer in business. We found a company in Western PA that could have gone through the process to design a mold and cast the posts from scratch. This was going to be an expensive process.

There is a fund through the York County Community Foundation that we are able to access to make repairs. However, it is not an unlimited fund and we want to be mindful to be good stewards of both the Memorial and the Funds that are available to us. We felt it was necessary to perform our due diligence and make sure there was no other way to get the post repaired before spending a significant portion of the available funds to replace the post. Earlier this week the post was removed and repairs are being attempted at a local company. This has been a process that has taken us since spring but we have been researching and working on it all along and have spoken to the Community Foundation on at least two occasions along with various Veterans who have a connection to the Memorial. We have had a local company look at the granite which needs to be re-caulked and are in the process of getting that work done. We are also working on leveling the bricks with our own Maintenance Staff.

Through the last few years the Expo Center Grounds Staff has maintained the monument and the area around it as part of normal groundskeeping duties. We have not drawn from the fund at the York County Community Foundation for over three years and have even made minor repairs and performed minor maintenance at our facilities expense. Our intent is that when major repairs are needed that we will utilize the funds that are available through the Community Foundation, which will likely be the case for the forthcoming repairs.

We, at the York Expo Center, continue to hold our nations Veteran’s with the highest respect. Each year we provide our facilities at no charge for Veteran’s Day and have also hosted other Veterans related events in prior years as well. This year at the York Fair we expanded the Veterans Display from a tent into a building that we renamed Heroes Hall during the ten day Fair which featured several military groups and organizations to have displays and informational booths at no charge.

Thank you,
Brianna Holmes
Communications Director
York State Fair & York Expo Center

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