The Allen County Veterans Memorial Foundation has been given the land by the Memorial Park Cemetery to build a new veterans memorial for Allen County in the future. Â The proposed memorial has been something that the foundation has been wanting to do for a while - but just couldn't find the place to build it.
"We've been seeking land all over the county near Lima since it's the county seat, and we had actually been looking at at this location at one time thinking about the possibility of purchasing," said David Paxton, president of the Allen County Veterans Memorial Foundation.  "During a fundraising drive, we were contacted by the president of the cemetery about building it on their property, and of course we jumped at that."
Now, with the land picked out, the foundation held a signing ceremony to show that the project was starting to get underway. Â Being able to finally get things started is something that the foundation has been look forward to.
"It's really exciting; we spent the last five years fundraising to get to the point where we can get design drawings done, which we now have enough to do," Paxton said.
The location of the monument will be at the corner of 117 and Bowman Road, across the street from the fairgrounds.  It's part of the additional, extended land of the cemetery, and its president says that helping out the foundation just seemed like the right thing to do.
"Being part of the cemetery, of course we're always looking to help veterans out give them an honorable discharge and burial here at the cemetery," said Joe Moor, president of Memorial Park Cemetery.  "Of course with their organization and what they're trying to do, and us here at the cemetery, it seemed like a perfect fit for us trying to work together on overseeing this project being completed."
The foundation says that they will be holding events periodically to raise some money and get construction started.
