To The Editor:
On Saturday, May 26, 2018, on my way to a Waitsfield Historical Society function, I stopped at the Couples Club Field in Waitsfield to say hi to and pay my respects to my friends, Bobby Fielder, Moretown; Brian Orr, Waitsfield; and Wendell Weston, Warren.
I was shocked and angry at what I found.
I found that the memorial, created by Dick Kingsbury for his fallen friends and three of The Valley’s fallen sons, had become merely a flagpole protruding out of a thicket of Japanese knotweed.
The engraved stone is almost completely hidden.
Perhaps I am making more of this than there is; maybe I am too close to the subject.
I knew all of them, was a close friend of Bobby and served in the military funeral for Wendell.
Or, perhaps too few remember who these men were and what their sacrifice was.
Perhaps the spirit of volunteerism that was responsible for so much of Waitsfield’s heritage and history is only embraced by a very few.
I know the history of the location and the memorial itself. It is not town property, but I believe the town, meaning anyone living in Waitsfield, has a duty and obligation to give these men, who died way too young, a fitting memorial.
Steve Joslin, USAR
Graniteville, VT
