Photo Provided A sign posted along Broad Street in Beallsville alerts residents and passersby to the future site of the Monroe County Gold Star Families Memorial. Beallsville American Legion Post 768 is working to raise the funding to have the memorial erected near the legion.

WOODSFIELD — Beallsville American Legion Post 768 is hoping to raise $70,000 in donations to construct a memorial honoring the area’s veterans and their families.

Monroe County Commissioner Mick Schumacher first proposed the idea to construct a Monroe County Gold Star Families Memorial in the village.

“I’ve been wanting to do it for a long time. It’s a really good project,” he said.

Schumacher said Beallsville seemed like the perfect place to have the monument erected. The village is known for having the highest per-capita casualty rate of any U.S. community when six of its residents died fighting in the Vietnam War, he added.

Schumacher said he contacted the legion, and members agreed with the proposed memorial. A committee was formed in September, and plans to raise the funds began. Commissioner Diane Burkhart, members of the community and the legion are involved in the committee.

David Wiles, post commander of the Beallsville American Legion, said the memorial will not only recognize soldiers of all wars, but the families of the soldiers as well.

“This memorial will honor soldiers, but it’s more built for the families of the soldiers that were killed in combat. This will help honor the families who have sacrificed, too,” he said. “We support anything for veterans and for veterans’ families.”

Wiles said the total cost for the project is $70,000. Around one-third of the funding already has been raised, including a company that has donated the concrete and labor for the project, he said. Additionally, People’s Bank has offered to match donations up to $10,000 toward the project.

Schumacher said the committee is working on the monument design to personalize it to the county and to the village itself.

The monument will be erected along Broad Street at the Beallsville American Legion. Wiles said organizers hope to have the monument constructed in June, but it will depend on whether the funds are secured by that time.

The monument is being purchased through the Hershel “Woody” Williams Medal of Honor Foundation, the organization responsible for establishing the Gold Star Families Memorial monuments. Wiles said there are 71 of the monuments throughout the United States with dozens more in the works.

Once the monument is built, a dedication ceremony will be held. Organizers hope Hershel W. Williams, a 97-year-old Marine and Medal of Honor recipient who served during World War II, will attend and dedicate the monument.

Schumacher said the committee plans to eventually add benches and a walkway made of bricks that will display names of soldiers who have died.

Those interested in donating to the project can mail checks to the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation, 12123 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, Kentucky, 40243. The checks can be made out with the abbreviation HWWMOHF, with “Monroe County, Ohio project” noted in the check memo line.

For more information on the project or to present a donation locally, call Wiles at 571-494-7877 or Schumacher at 740-391-8493.