Glenn Smeltzer stood with delight in Westmoreland County Courthouse Sq. on Saturday as he and his son watched a ceremony a century within the making.
County officers and member of the Greensburg-based Sons of Veterans of Civil Struggle Capt. George A. Cribbs Camp No. 276 celebrated the one centesimal anniversary of the Grand Military of the Republic Struggle Monument on a gusty Saturday afternoon.
Initially devoted in late Could 1925 on the former Metropolis Corridor turned Westmoreland Museum of American Artwork on North Important Avenue, it was taken down for refurbishment in 2013 and re-erected within the sq. in 2015.
It’s estimated to weigh at the least 20 tons with a granite base about two-stories tall and a 6-foot-5-inch bronze statue of a Union soldier on the prime.
“I grew up in Greensburg and keep in mind when it was up there (at Metropolis Corridor),” Smeltzer mentioned. “My best concern was they had been simply going to demolish it (and) eliminate it. I’m glad that it’s right here.”
Smeltzer is the nice grandson of Capt. Cribbs, who served in Firm I of the eleventh Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment.
“A lot of the males within the Hempfield/Greensburg space had been recruited as Firm I,” Smeltzer defined. “Every firm had 100 males and a regiment was, like, 1,000 males, theoretically. The eleventh was one of many extra well-known regiments within the Civil Struggle. They had been the oldest regiment by the tip of the warfare.”
The regiment misplaced 417 males within the warfare, principally resulting from fight and others to illness, in response to the National Park Service.
A number of camp members Saturday wearing Union Military garb, together with muskets, four-button sack coats that served as fight fatigues, and frock coats that had been a part of the formal costume uniform.
Camp Memorial Officer Rick Bowen mentioned the apparel was one other approach for them to pay tribute to the troopers.
Ceremony actions
Camp Commander Invoice Bray performed a recording of the nationwide anthem and led attendees within the pledge of allegiance.
He mentioned it could be a really completely different county if it weren’t for Union troopers.
“By means of their lives we exist,” Bray mentioned.
Westmoreland County Director of Veterans Affairs Matt Zamosky was fast on his toes and caught an American flag that was being blown over through the invocation by Camp Graves Registration Officer Rob Myers.
The camp’s framed constitution on show by the rostrum fell over a number of instances however remained undamaged.
Westmoreland County Commissioner Douglas Chew delivered a proclamation and spoke about how memorials just like the one in Greensburg are a reminder that freedom isn’t free.
“We additionally acknowledge in the present day that from the earliest days of this nation, Individuals have all the time constructed memorials and statues to the courageous women and men that sacrificed all the things for the peace and tranquility that we take pleasure in in the present day,” Chew mentioned.
“Early Individuals rose to any problem to honor the fallen. The Westmoreland County Monument Affiliation began in 1865 to boost funds for this specific memorial right here. After 60 years of effort this was the fruit of their labor.
“At the moment our nice nation had undergone involvement in one other warfare, World Struggle I. And so this memorial took on new that means as a solution to keep in mind the heroism and bravado of all Westmoreland County veterans not simply those who served to guard the Union.”
Camp historian Eric Wible mentioned the unique memorial had etched into it years and wars from the Revolutionary Struggle by means of World Struggle I.
It additionally featured 4 cannons and cannon balls that had been taken and repurposed years later for his or her steel throughout World Struggle II, in response to Zamosky.
Zamosky went on to speak about how transferring the monument, additionally known as the “Soldier Statute,” to the courthouse sq. additional solidified inclusion of all troopers.
“We had talked about a number of areas, but it surely was necessary to maneuver him to a county property as a result of, because the dedication, he had been on Greensburg soil,” Zamosky mentioned. “The monument was speculated to be to honor the service Westmoreland County veterans.
“It was necessary to our committee that he stand on soil that belonged to all county residents and never one metropolis or one other.”
Extra dates and wars had been etched into the monument because the years went on to stretch its remembrance of troopers in main conflicts by means of Desert Storm.
Wible mentioned nobody is aware of who made the extra inscriptions, but it surely will need to have been by knowledgeable because it matches the unique font.
“It’s a thriller we’ve been engaged on for years,” Wible mentioned, who made the pitch at a current camp assembly to have a one centesimal anniversary ceremony.
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A Chicago artist made the statue and his son is believed to have been the mannequin. Nobody on the ceremony knew the artist or son’s title.
Camp Memorial Officer Rick Bowen learn the poem “A Monument for the Soldiers” by James Whitcomb Riley. He additionally performed faucets.
Smeltzer’s son, Sean, mentioned the ceremony was very nicely accomplished. He hopes extra individuals look upon the memorial in reverence of all Westmoreland County troopers who served this nation.
“I feel it’s an important factor for the statue, itself,” Sean Smeltzer mentioned. “I feel it’s nice that they moved that right here just a few years in the past to put it aside, and it’s in an important spot proper now.”
Glenn and Sean Smeltzer each dwell in Youngwood.
Solely a handful of individuals sans members attended the occasion regardless of it going down close to the center of Greensburg on a weekend afternoon.
After the ceremony, Wible talked about how mom nature didn’t cooperate as reported within the monument’s unveiling.
“It could have been good if the climate would have cooperated with us,” the historian mentioned. “The accounts of the unique dedication in 1925 described good climate, which we clearly didn’t have in the present day. I’m positive that had a little bit of an influence on attendance and all the things else. General, I’d say it went fairly nicely.”
One other ceremony on the monument is being deliberate for November. Extra info is predicted to be launched within the coming months.
