Orange War Dead by War

This is the first of a series of articles by the Committee for the Orange County Veterans Memorial.  Remember our goal is to raise funds, so we can build the Orange County Veterans Memorial to honor those sons and daughters of Orange who died while defending our country and our liberties.

Listed below is the number of Orange County’s war dead which occurred in each conflict in which Orange lost a service member as derived from the Library of Virginia’s Military Dead Database.   In the ensuing months, our intent is to go through each conflict delineating ten to fifteen Service members per week, giving what details we know of their ultimate sacrifice.
For those of you who have seen the American Legion Post 156 boards which are used at Memorial Day a number of times, you will realize the quantity of dead listed below are not the same number as listed on those boards.  So one of the lists has names listed which shouldn’t be, or one list doesn’t have enough names listed.  Our goal is to ensure the final list of names for the memorial is as accurate as possible.   If you have information, one way or another regarding a deceased Orange Service member, please come forward to correct the record and make it straight.

Donations, Comments, Suggestions

Donations, comments and suggestions can be mailed to P.O. Box 188, Orange, VA 22960.  Or they also can be left at any of the Veteran’s organizations and they will be forwarded by the Memorial representative as each organization has one now.  Please make the donation checks payable to the Orange County Parks and Recreation Foundation with “Orange Veterans Memorial” or “OVM” in the memo line.  For those who are tech-savvy, you can send comments and suggestions to our e-mail address, orangeveteransmemorial@gmail.com.  And, we also have a website, www.orangeveteransmemorial.org.

Finally, we want this memorial to be inclusive.  As mentioned at the Memorial Day ceremony, we want your ideas and suggestions.  You do not need to be a Veteran, or a member of a Veteran’s organization to participate.  All you need is a desire to help and let us know that.  Give us an opportunity to find a way to get you involved.  Our intent to have this memorial built is not to open old wounds or tear off scabs.  Let the building of this memorial help bring us together.  A monument to honor the sacrifice of our fallen comrades, not harm anyone.  If the building of the monument does harm someone, we apologize.  As mentioned at the Memorial Day ceremony, we believe this memorial needs to be a dedication to Orange’s sons or daughters who made the supreme sacrifice, which allowed the rest of us to live in freedom.