Veterans receive funds to complete monument at Scranton memorial park

Jun. 17--For four years, a group of local veterans raised money, completed design work and learned about the more than 900 members of the military who went to war and never came home to Scranton.

The group, which opened the first phase of Scranton Veterans Memorial Park last year, now has enough funding to install a granite monument that will include the names of all Scranton residents who died in combat since World War I.

"It's an accomplishment, knowing we've done something for those who gave their lives for us," said Jim Kuchwara, a Vietnam War veteran and commander of VFW Post 25, which helped lead the efforts to create the park. "We always knew we'd never forget our fallen comrades."

The park, located on the Scranton High School campus adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium, will receive a two-year grant totaling $117,000 from the Robert Y. Moffat Family Charitable Trust.

Anticipated total cost of the project is $465,000, which includes site work already completed and the flagpoles, sidewalks landscaping put in place last year. The project also received state support through Marcellus shale gas impact fees and Local Share Account casino gaming funds. Organizers also held fundraisers and accepted a $50,000 grant from the city of Scranton.

It seems fitting that the Moffat Trust, from a family that earned wealth from the coal industry, funded the remaining portion, said Pat Ahern, a Marine Corps veteran and chairman of the memorial park committee. Many family members of the fallen worked in the coal industry, he said.

Volunteers identified 968 names of Scranton residents who died in combat. About half do not appear on any other monuments or plaques already located in the city, Ahern said. The committee plans to have the park complete in summer 2020.

"We feel blessed and we feel thankful to the Scranton community and greater Scranton community," Ahern said. "Honoring those who never came home is so important."

Kuchwara and other veterans already visit the park, envisioning the monument and honoring the fallen.

"It's sacred ground for us now," he said. "We're living our lives because of those who gave their lives."

Contact the writer: shofius@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9133; @hofiushallTT on Twitter

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