The Veterans Memorial, designed by P. Joseph Mullens, was dedicated on November 11, 1995, ten years after Governor Arch Moore created a commission to establish a West Virginia Vietnam Veterans memorial. The project later was expanded to memorialize fallen servicemen and women of other 20th-century actions. Etched on the black interior walls of the memorial are the names of men and women who were born or resided in West Virginia and who died during officially recognized periods of conflict. Four bronze sculptures set in niches in the exterior walls represent service in World War I (Army doughboy), World War II (Navy sailor), the Korean Conflict (Air Force aviator), and Vietnam (Marine) and were dedicated between 1995 and 1999. Plaques with the names of 20th-century Medal of Honor winners and casualties from post-Vietnam 20th-century conflicts were added later.

After receiving the records for the memorial in 1998, Archives and History staff became aware of errors, missing names, and names that fell outside the date ranges of the various conflicts. A Veterans Advisory Committee was established in 2004 to provide guidance to staff on various questions regarding names and eligibility.

Additional names were identified through communications from the public, who either visited the memorial in person or via the online database, as well as through extensive research by Archives and History staff, predominantly through state newspapers for the World War I, World War II, and Korean Conflict periods. Spellings of names were verified through staff research and information provided by family members. Some names were removed because they did not meet the qualifications for inclusion. Most World War I removals occurred because of death after the recognized period of conflict.

Pictures of the Carving work

State Archives Assistant Director Bryan Ward said, “When I saw the letter I stood there with my mouth open for a moment. I looked at DNR District Administrator Bob Beanblossom who was making the transfer and he said, 'wouldn’t it be nice if we could prove that they actually bought it from Cass?'”

After Ward did some research, he found that Wright State University has a collection of Wright Brothers check stubs. He sent an email to Dawne Dewey, Director of Public History and Head of the Special Collection Library at Wright State. Ward explained, “It took less than an hour for her to find a check stub referencing the West Virginia Spruce Lumber Company for $45.10 on March 29, 1904.” From additional research he was able to find that a second order of spruce was purchased from the company in November 1905.

When these two purchases were made the Wright Brothers were building their second and third fliers. Following their successful first flight in 1903, the Wright Brothers returned to Dayton and began work on the Wright Flier II. While hopes were high for the new plane made ready on May 23, 1904, the Wright Flier II was plagued with control and landing problems and the design was abandoned.

In 1905 the brothers designed and built a new plane: the Wright Flier III. With the new design the Wright Brothers created the first practical airplane. The new designed allowed the brothers to fly farther than all of their previous flights combined and to land safely. The plane proved so reliable that in 1908 the Wrights were able to secure contracts from U.S. Army Signal Corp and La Compagnie Generale de Navigation Aérienne, a French consortium.

In an article for the Associated Press Tom Crouch, a Wright brothers’ biographer and senior aeronautics curator at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. explained that there is no question the spruce was used in building the crash-plagued Wright Flier II and the brothers' first practical plane, Wright Flier III.

Crouch further explained that around the turn of the century spruce of the dimensions and quality that the Wright brothers needed was hard to find and that with West Virginia’s close proximity, inquiring there only made sense.

In 1908 while testing changes made to meet their contracts, Wilbur crashed the third flier into a sand dune at Kitty Hawk. Following the crash the plane was packed up and placed into storage. In 1911 a Massachusetts industrialist purchased the flier in pieces and moved it to a museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. After viewing an attempt by the museum staff to reassemble the plane, Orville demanded that their version of the plane never be displayed. In 1947, a renewed effort to reassemble the Wright Flier III was undertaken this time in Dayton, Ohio, and under the direction of Orville Wright. The restored plane was unveiled on July 3, 1950, but sadly Orville Wright had died two and half years earlier.

Today, the Wright Flier III resides in the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton. In 1990, the plane was named a National Historic Landmark and in 2000, it was completely restored. In 2003, the plane was designated as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.

Summing up his research Ward explained, “When you look at West Virginia you always note that the state’s history is linked to its natural resources, but when you realize that some of these resources played a role in events that have changed not only the United States, but the world, it is very gratifying.”

As part of their coursework students picked a topic or person in West Virginia history that has not yet been recognized with a marker. Some of the student topics included statehood leader John S. Carlile, a Civil War skirmish near Berkeley Springs, the Cockayne Homestead in Glen Dale and Watt Powell Park in Charleston. Once the project research is completed, students will try to secure funding to have the sign manufactured and seek permission from property owners if necessary for marker placement.

When asked about the project Archives Assistant Directory Bryan Ward said, “It is both exciting and refreshing to see students dedicated to researching their states’ history and taking an active role in trying to make sure that these important places that make West Virginia unique are identified by Highway Historical Markers.”

Want to learn more about the West Virginia Highway Historical Marker Program?

The grant is the third phase of a project to replace and repair approximately 300 highway historical markers across West Virginia. Previous projects also funded through the Transportation Enhancement program include: the creation of a marker inventory and database, which can be found on the Archives and History website at http://www.wvculture.org/history/markers.html; and the publication of a guidebook entitled Marking our Past: West Virginia’s Highway Historical Markers available from Archives and History.

The West Virginia Highway Historical Marker Program was initiated in 1937 as part of the New Deal as a way to encourage tourism during the Great Depression. The West Virginia Commission on Historic and Scenic Markers worked with the State Road Commission, Works Progress Administration, and Federal Emergency Relief Administration to place 440 markers during the first year alone. After World War II, markers were placed at the sites of most state-run facilities and schools. The West Virginia Historic Commission took over the program in 1963. Since the late 1960s, the program has been managed by West Virginia Archives and History, which is today part of the West Virginia Division of Culture & History.

Through research the Archives staff was able to confirm the identity of the other people in the photograph and uncovered a series of four in-depth articles written by Mrs. Older that ran in the Bulletin. The photograph, transcripts of the articles and other materials on Mother Jones are available on the Archives and History website.

For more information, contact Joe Geiger.