The Vance County Veterans Memorial has been in place for a few weeks now in the city-owned public space outside the Henderson Police Department.
Each side of the six-sided monument honors one of the branches of the military, from Army to Space Force. Visitors who have come for a closer inspection of the impressive installation may notice something that’s unique to Henderson: depictions of Corbitt trucks on two sides of the monument.
“We’re proud to have those in there,” said American Legion Post 60 Commander Hartwell Wright on Tuesday’s TownTalk. Wright and Andy Roberson joined WIZS’s Scout Hughes to reflect on how the memorial came to be, as well as what’s next.
The 9-foot tall monument with the bronze eagle atop it may be the first thing that grabs people’s attention, but Wright said “they always migrate to the names and reflect on the names.”
Although the monument itself is devoid of names, the 126 names of those Vance County natives who died in service to their country are inscribed on a large stone as part of the overall installation.
When the American Legion Post 60 kicked off its campaign to raise the $150,000 or so needed to complete this part of the project late in 2025, Wright said folks were skeptical that things could fall into place by July 4.
But, indeed, the memorial was officially dedicated on Saturday, July 4 – on time and on budget – and Wright called it a true labor of love. From financial donations – small and large – to donations of time, labor and materials from numerous individuals and businesses in the community, the memorial was commissioned and completed.
Mission accomplished.
At least this phase, anyway.
Wright said next phases include adding lighting to illuminate the memorial at night, and then to replace nearby wooden benches with granite benches to complement the memorial area.
In addition to those who contributed time and money to the project, Wright said the city of Henderson has been a key partner from the beginning.
Wright said, “We contemplated several different locations,” including the property where the Post 60 Hut sits on Garnett Street. But the railroad owns a good bit of the property near there, and, besides, Wright said, parking would have been a problem, too.
The city offered up the area outside the police department, and that set the wheels in motion.
Long-time residents may remember the monuments in what Wright called Veterans Triangle, positioned near the Fire Department and the overpass on North Garnett Street. After the city removed those monuments to make way for the water fountain installation, folks began talking about the need to have some sort of memorial to remember the war dead.
“It was time for us to rectify that,” Wright said. “That was the impetus behind getting this thing started.”
Without the generous donation of the property by the city, the project most likely would have had a very different outcome, Wright said.
Roberson agreed, adding that the donations of landscaping work, hole digging and concrete pouring would have added to the bill considerably.
“It would have been a lot more money,” Roberson said.
Another partnership involved the Vance County Historical Society, which had a project of its own underway to create banners for downtown lampposts in memory of the 126 veterans who died in military service.
“We piggy-backed off of them and the research they were doing in verifying each and every one of those names,” Wright said.
Names inscribed on the original stones at Veterans Triangle had been provided long ago by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and Wright said they were presumed to be correct.
In their research, however, it was discovered that several of those names belonged on memorials in Henderson-VILLE, not Henderson.
Please contact the Vance County Historical Society if you believe your family has a loved one whose name should be included along with the 126 other names of service members who have died in military service.
Visit https://vcvm.org/ to learn more and find a link to make a donation online.
Send checks to:
American Legion Post 60
P.O. Box 1765
Henderson, NC 27536
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