A forgotten memorial to World War II veterans in Springfield Township is finally seeing the light of day again thanks to a book, an Army veteran, and a couple of phone calls to township leaders.
Wes Girdler has lived in Springfield Township's Finneytown community since 1962, serving in the Army from 1980 to 1992. He was surprised to recently learn there was a World War II memorial in his community.
"A friend of mine, Rick Kennedy, wrote a book about Finneytown," he explains, "I read it, and I noticed the World War II Memorial over in Parkview Heights. I wanted to go over and see it, being a veteran and everything. When I got over there, it was completely covered with bushes."
Parkview Heights was Springfield Township's first subdivision. It sits along North Bend Road on the southern side of Finneytown. According to the township, the neighborhood dedicated a bronze plaque in 1947 reading, "To Honor the Men and Women of Parkview Heights Who Served in World War II."
Old newspaper clippings show the plaque was dedicated on Nov. 9, 1947, with a program that included a short parade led by American Legion Post 530 of Greenhills, music, and speakers.
The plaque sits on a crumbling pillar beside a flag pole in front of the G.E. Maier Building at the intersection of North Bend Road and Northern Parkway. Over time, shrubbery beside the pillar grew so large, it completely covered and obscured the marker.
"I called [Trustee] Joe Honorlaw with the township, and I said, 'Hey, Joe, can you give me the name of the guy that owns the business there, and I can touch base with him and see if some friends of mine and I could uncover it and make it more presentable?' And he said, 'Hold off on that. I'll see what the township can do. And so they did, and they've started a great project trying to get it restored."
So far, the shrubs have been removed and the township says Honerlaw and Public Works Director Scott Schardine "worked with the property owner to preserve the historical aspects of the site, like the original flag pole, and to make the plaque itself more visible."
Girdler tells WVXU he's hoping there's more to come.
"I'm hoping they might be able to reach out to one of the monument places and be able to get a piece of granite, or something like that, to replace the concrete base, and remove the plaques and then put those back on. So that way it'll last forever," he says.
He'd also like to see the names of all of Finneytown's World War II veterans added to the memorial, not just those from Parkview Heights.
"I've got such a love for veterans," he says. "I'm a member of a lot of the different veterans organizations, and when I went to see the monument, I was expecting to see it like it was in a book, but it was completely grown over and I just thought [uncovering] it was a very respectful thing that needed to be done. Me being a soldier and a member of the community, I thought it was an important piece of our history that ought to be out there where everybody can see it."
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