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Eagle Scouts, American Legion continue work on Veteran Memorial

The Hillsdale Daily News - 10/5/2020

Oct. 5--HILLSDALE -- The Hillsdale County Veteran of the Year Memorial has stood tall in the middle of the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds as a reminder of those who continued to selflessly serve their communities for years--sometimes decades--after their military service ended.

Dominik Balser--with some assistance from his father, Troy--combined forces with Stephen Tulloch and the Jonesville American Legion Post 195 to complete Phase 1 of the project which was unveiled on Veterans Day of the Hillsdale County Fair in 2018.

Balser undertook the work as part of his Eagle Scout project for the Boy Scouts of America.

The grand memorial--a ship's bow--is accompanied by a showcase which encompasses every single Hillsdale County Veteran of the Year recipient's name on 30 mm shell casings.

A bronze plaque embedded in a boulder nearby ties the memorial into other memorials found around Hillsdale County where boulders mark key places of its rich history.

On Sept. 28, Phase 2 of the ongoing projects was unveiled during the 2020 Veteran of the Year ceremony.

A kiosk has been added to the memorial with the biography of every recipient of the Veteran of the Year award.

Jacob Brandon, another Eagle Scout, worked with Tulloch and the American Legion on Phase 2.

Brandon said that when he saw Balser's work unveiled in 2018, he was inspired to add to the foundational work that had already been done in continuing to honor veterans in the community.

Brandon also pointed to Tulloch's leadership, mentorship and friendship throughout the kiosk project.

Tulloch said that Brandon was instrumental in assisting with research on every single Veteran of the Year recipient in addition to selling memorial bricks which surround the memorial, installing decorative ropes and enhancing the general beauty of the memorial.

"We tried to tie in the ability to do a little research on these guys," Tulloch said. "Who were these guys? What did they do for their communities after their service time?"

Tulloch, who grew up in rural upstate New York in a smaller community similar to Hillsdale, said these projects have been a small way to get involved in the community in addition to working with the Boy Scouts of America while simultaneously honoring local veterans who remained active in the community after serving in the military.

Tulloch was awarded Sept. 28 as the 2020 Hillsdale County Veteran of the Year for his involvement in the Jonesville American Legion Post 195, his work on the memorial projects and his service in the military.

Phase 3 of the project scope--Tulloch's final vision--is to record short video interviews of the living Veteran of the Year recipients and incorporate those videos into the kiosk biographies.

The Veteran of the Year Memorial sits at the entrance to the Nichols Bandshell at the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds where the annual Veteran of the Year ceremony is held on the Hillsdale County Fair'sVeterans Day.

Veterans of the Year and a runner-up are selected by the Veteran of the Year Committee, chaired by Gary Noblit, which consists of representatives from all four American Legion Posts in Hillsdale County and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Waldron.

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(c)2020 Hillsdale Daily News, Mich.

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