Harrison approves spending for war memorial restoration

Harrison commissioners approved spending a little more than $20,000 on a project to repair the township’s World War II Honor Roll memorial.

A volunteer committee developed a plan to save the memorial at Freeport and Springhill roads that includes repairing its crumbling structure and replacing its panels of painted-on names with etched granite.

Commissioners voted to provide $10,311 for work on the structure and $10,000 to cover about 30% of the cost of the granite.

The township set aside $30,000 for the memorial in its budget this year.

The structural work will include repointing and sealing the memorial, said Joe Musco, co-chair of the Harrison Township Honor Roll Restoration Committee. Allegheny Restoration is expected to start the work in mid-September.

Although the memorial’s foundation is sound, the memorial is cracked in many places — including at least one area where a crack goes all the way through the structure — and chunks of stone have broken off, putting it in jeopardy of collapsing, according to Musco.

“It needs to be addressed,” he said.

Bryan Ward, owner of Allegheny Maintenance Window Cleaning, pressure-washed the memorial in May at no charge. The name of Ward’s grandfather, Marlin Ward, is on the memorial. The elder Ward was a Navy welder and plumber who died in 1986.

The money for the granite is needed for a deposit to start that work, which Musco said will take four months to complete. The existing black glass panels upon which about 2,000 names were handwritten in gold will be replaced.

Officials also plan to add missing names and correct misspellings.

The committee is considering offering the old panels to the Alle-Kiski Valley Historical Society Museum in Tarentum, if they can be removed intact.

Commissioners also voted to have the township’s solicitor help the committee obtain nonprofit status so donations can be tax-deductible.

“We want to get the community involved,” committee member Eric Bengel said. “We want to make this a community effort.”

The total project is expected to cost $80,000 and will include adding a new memorial recognizing all veterans.

The township, which owns the existing memorial, is considering adding landscaping, benches and parking spaces. More money may be set aside for it in the township’s 2020 budget.

The committee hopes to have work completed in time for the Honor Roll to be rededicated on Memorial Day 2020.