Concert rasied $5,000 for vets memorial

By Scott Bellile

The New London Veterans Memorial Foundation met the fundraising goal it set for a University of Wisconsin Varsity Band concert it held earlier this month.

Veterans’ Memorial Foundation Secretary Jim Jaeger said the March 6 concert at New London High School brought in just over $5,000 to the organization, which is planning to install a monument in Taft Park to honor U.S. service members. He said 491 people attended.

“From our viewpoint it was a successful program, no question about it whatsoever,” Jaeger said.

Locals who performed with the UW Varsity Band included Justine Hansel (Hortonville), Ashley Baken (Hortonville) and John Faldet (Iola).

The organization is now calling on the community to order 4-by-8-inch tribute bricks that will list the names of veterans living or dead. Jaeger said 146 bricks have been sold out of 1,140 available slots on the future monument.

The black granite for the monument will arrive to New London from Africa in three months. The foundation must pay $15 to etch each tribute brick entry on the monument when the granite arrives to Mathewson Monuments, Jaeger said, versus $70 each after the granite is installed in Taft Park.

If the foundation were to not sell those remaining 946 slots until after the monument were installed, it would pay an additional $54,670 to finish those remaining bricks.

“That could delay it another year or two because for a town our size, raising $50,000 isn’t a small thing,” Jaeger said.

The bricks cost $150 each. Order forms are available at locations including New London Public Library and the city hall, or can be ordered by calling Foundation Chairman Jim Massonet at 920-982-3060.

“It is a community effort, no question about it,” Massonet said. “Without the community we couldn’t do it.”