Veterans memorial unveiled in Mt. Pleasant on Independence Day

MT. PLEASANT—The North Sanpete Veterans Memorial, the culmination of an exceptional volunteer effort, was dedicated last Saturday, July 4th in front of a crowd of about 500, who broke into cheers when the keynote speaker, Gov. Spencer Cox, declared that “America is still the greatest country in the history of the world.”

The dedication program included raising the flags of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Utah National Guard; a vocal performance of “God Bless the USA;” speeches by Cox and Rep. Burgess Owens, who represents Sanpete County in Congress; a dedicatory prayer by Owens; a gun salute and taps.

But perhaps the crowning moment was when five life-size statutes, representing soldiers from the main branches of the armed forces, plus one of a military nurse, were unveiled.

Bull Keisel, chairman of the North Sanpete Veterans Memorial Committee and the driving force behind the memorial, said each statue cost more than $30,000. He emphasized that the money, most of the materials and much of the labor to create not only the statues but the memorial as a whole, had all been donated.

Keisel, who moderated the event, explained the motivation behind the memorial.

He was critically injured in Vietnam and spent 18 months in a military hospital in Colorado.

His roommate was a former professional hockey player who had lost both legs, an arm and an eye. When the man’s fiancée came to visit, she ran out of the room. Yet months later, he and the woman were married.

He says the bravery he saw in soldiers as they struggled to recover from their injuries was “what drove me to do what I’ve done for the past two years with my wonderful committee.”

One exceptional aspect of the memorial is the statue to a nurse, designed from a photograph of the late Olive Brotherson, a World War II field nurse from Mt. Pleasant, and an aunt to local contractor Terry Brotherson. The nurse statue is at the front and center of the memorial.

“When I woke up in Vietnam, after being unconscious for three days, there was a nurse standing with her hand on my shoulders…,” Keisel told the crowd. “My eyes were so swollen you had to hold the eyes open to see. I asked her to open my eyes so I could see her face. She reached down with her fingers and opened on eye…”

“I’ve never forgotten, never forgotten, the nurses and the part they played in war. I don’t remember one doctor. But I remember the nurses. They were always there for me.”

Gov. Cox talked about the novelty of the Declaration of Independence at the time it was signed. It expressed the concept that people have inalienable rights that come from God, not government.

Among the rights, “were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” he said. “That’s the sentence that changed the course of human history.

“But there was something at the end that we sometimes forget,” the governor added. “They pledged their lives, their fortunes and their honor to defending this nation.

“And not long after, they were called to do just that. Against the greatest superpower in the history of the world and against all odds. With heaven’s grace shining down on them, they were somehow victorious. And thus, they created the greatest country in the history of the world.”

While everyone is focused on America’s 250th anniversary, there’s another anniversary most Utahns have never heard of, the governor said. It’s the 75th anniversary of a battle involving 240 soldiers from southern Utah during the Korean War.          

“They found themselves in a faraway place they’d never heard of with a people they didn’t understand, trying to preserve freedom,” he said. “On a cold, cold night they were suddenly in a firefight with 4,000 North Korean and Chinese soldiers. They were outnumbered 16 to 1.

“They were brave, and they were scared. They thought about their moms, they thought about their sisters, their girlfriends, their wives, back home. They thought about the good people in those small towns, like this one. (They were) longing to go back and realizing that when that night ended, they would probably never see daylight again.

“And somehow, against all odds, in a place called Gapyeong, when the sun came up, every one of those Utah boys was still alive. There were 350 dead enemy, and they had captured over 800 of those 4,000. The rest of them ran as fast as they could away.”

Cox said when he visited a memorial to the Battle of Gapyeong, South Koreans, “with tears in their eyes, came to me and thanked me for the miracle that happened that day and for those young men who sacrificed their lives, their fortunes and their honor to save a country they didn’t know anything about.”

In the scriptures, the governor said, “Jesus tells us to remember. He’s always talking about remembering.” Referring to the veterans memorial, he added, ““Thank you to everyone who came together to give us something to help us remember.”

Rep. Owens told the crowd, “There’s no place I would rather be on our nation’s birthday than in Sanpete County,” the heart of Utah.

He said he wasn’t surprised at what Sanpete County residents gave to create the memorial. Such generosity is “the Utah way,” he said. “This is why we’re growing the way we are.”

He said long before the veterans memorial was created, “This valley knew about sacrifice. The people who settled Sanpete came across oceans and continents with nothing, inspired by the…promise of freedom, to worship their God and raise their families in the way they saw fit.

“They came to begin a life in this unforgiving desert valley,” he said, because they believed their dreams were worth the cost and the sacrifice required to achieve them.

“Miracles are built by people who live in places like Sanpete County, those who love the promise of America and never fail to answer when the country calls.

He said when he looked out at the young people we in the audience, their parents and their grandparents,” he couldn’t help but feel optimistic.

“This monument represents the torch being passed to every one of us,” he said, “to educate ourselves, to engage respectfully with others, to share the talents we have been gifted by God…and then to serve, constantly, dutifully with all our hearts.”

Businesses, individuals make cash, in-kind donations to memorial

MT. PLEASANT—Constructing the North Sanpete Veterans Memorial took a substantial amount of cash, supplemented by a long list of in-kind donations, Bull Keisel, a Mt. Pleasant City councilman and chairman of the North Sanpete Veterans Memorial Committee told the crowd at the dedication of the memorial last Saturday.

“Gosh, there were so many (contributions),” he said. Here’s a rundown.

• Keisel was working out at a fitness center when he ran into Kim and Dan Meyer, managers of Hope Ranch, an 800-acre working ranch that also serves as a “place of healing for women who have experience domestic violence or abuse.”

 Keisel told them about his efforts to build a memorial. Kim asked where he was getting the financing. He told her he was going to raise it all. “She went over and got her phone, came back, and gave a very handsome donation,” Keisel said. “She was the very first one.”

• Terry R. Brotherson Excavating did all the “dirt work” for the pad and hauled in rocks for a boundary around the pad at no charge. Then he paid for the nurse statute, created to be a likeness of his aunt.

• Rich Clayton of Rich Clayton Construction, with his daughter, Aspen and her husband poured the concrete pad at no charge.

• Christensen Ready Mix. Keisel said he asked the owners if they would be willing to donate toward the pad. They told him they would donate all the concrete he needed. The concrete pad is 4 feet deep, Keisel said. And the footings are exceptionally deep. “They gave up a handsome amount of money to build this. Can’t thank them enough,” Keisel said.

• Monte Bona, now 85 or 86 years, raised $72,000, much of it from the Cleone Peterson Eccles Foundation. “Without that grant work, this project would have taken many more years,” Keisel said.

• Sanpete Steel, including Gary, Jeff and Alex Richards; Waylon Atkinson; and Kevin Burgess made cash and in-kind donations to the effort. It was Burgess who erected the name wall.

• Dax Welding put the powder coating on the name wall, which was finished at 8:30 p.m. the night before the dedication.

• CentraCom, including Eddie Cox, Branch Cox, Brad Welch and the employees, made a substantial cash donation.

• Mt. Pleasant City. “I can’t say enough about how they dove in with me on this,” Keisel said. “The office, Public Works and the Power Department, they all…did what they had to do to get this done. (I thank) the mayor for supporting me.

• Mardell’s Kitchen, Jason and Sarah Mardell, along with Keisel’s daughter and son-in-law, helped with “everything we did with food” and worked tirelessly.

• The Back 40 Baggers, a cornhole club, sponsored two cornhole tournaments as fund raisers.

• Keisel also recognized Jack and Gaylynne Widdison. “I was working on the bricks the other day, Thursday,” Kiesel told the dedication crowd. “My wife came out and told me I needed to go home. She was worried about me getting a heat stroke. Sometimes I forget I’m 77. Robert Bingham was with me; he finished one side. Then I get a phone call saying Jack and Gaylynne’s coming out to finish the rest of the bricks. He said Jack, former manager of the ConToy arena, also took good care of his committee when it held a community-wide fundraiser at the arena.

• The North Sanpete Veterans Memorial Committee. “If you want to get something done, get some women on your committee,” Keisel said. “Debbie James coordinated all of this.” He said Lynn Brotherson and Maria Ricks collected names by visiting museums, going to where they could find plaques and taking pictures. The names they gathered “are on the wall now,” Keisel said. Mary Huddlestone took care of children during fund raising events and has been “right there at every meeting with lots of great ideas.”

• Keisel said Robert Bingham has been “right there, on the spot, when I’ve needed anything, anytime.

• Jim Bean, the commander, and Richard Schutt, a member of the local American Legion, organized one of the first fund raisers. Richard also arranged for memorial to purchase flags and flagpoles at a discount.

• The North Sanpete football team and their coaches. Dave Peck, Rhett Bird and Todd Hansen, came down one morning after practice…and laid sod surrounding the memorial in an hour and 20 minutes.

• Skyline Golf, including Rob Birdsley and Mandy Allred Ty Allen, held two golf tournaments

• Avid Builders, owned by Mike Bowles, made a donation. “Anytime you do anything in this community Mike Bowles is involved,” Keisel said.