Memorial plaques available again

On 20 concrete stands in Sidney's Legion Park, hundreds of Cheyenne County residents who served their country are remembered at the War Memorial near the park's southwest entrance.

According to accounts reported in the Sidney Telegraph, L.L. (Swede) Nelson came up with the original idea of the memorial, which rapidly took form when Nelson's suggestions were embraced by the community.

Nelson and Cheyenne County Superintendent of Schools Dr. William Kelley discussed, first with each other, then with a growing number of others, plans for a dramatic memorial to all the nation's veterans, living or dead, whether they served in wars or in peacetime.

The selected site for the memorial was immediately south of Living Memorial Gardens in the park. The design was to be simple, one that would reflect this region's past and present commitment to freedom, and one that would inherently reflect the cost of lives given in the pursuit of that quest.

The center of attention was to be a large flagpole flying a U.S. flag equally as impressive. Quite by accident, project organizers came across a damaged interstate light pole, which later flew an equally large flag 140 feet above the ground.

After several year of planning, the Sidney City Council approved the project in March 1989 and a dedicated group of volunteers brought the memorial to life in time to be dedicated on July 4 of that same year.

While the War Memorial is somewhat different than originally planned, it has over the years