Arona officials seek information on local veterans as they prepare to dedicate memorial

Arona officials plan to dedicate a new memorial later this year but first want to find more information about local veterans.

Several years in the planning stages, the borough’s updated monument to veterans was installed on Veterans Day. A dedication ceremony was postponed because of concerns about gatherings during the covid-19 pandemic, Councilman Joe Ruffing said.

An official unveiling now is scheduled this Labor Day, Sept. 6. Arona is just off the Pennsylvania Turnpike and along Route 136 between Greensburg and New Stanton.

Ruffing said the borough needs help from the public to identify living veterans from Arona or who formerly lived in the town in order to invite them to attend the ceremony. Planners also want to compile a list of borough veterans both living and deceased, from all eras, with the hope of displaying their names at the post office.

“It’s something the borough can be proud of,” Ruffing said of the memorial. “It’s one way to honor the men and women who served our country.”

The memorial replaces one that was deteriorating and was situated in an inconvenient location that lacked lighting and electrical power, across Main Street from the park.

“People had talked about repairing it or replacing it for a long time,” Ruffing said.

The borough eventually demolished the old porcelain brick monument and, last year, completed a $25,000 project that established a new monument and memorial plaza next to the post office parking lot.

An eagle emblem and five bronze medallions, representing different branches of military service, from the old monument are incorporated in a new one made of red granite. Designed by Chris Odasso of Jaycox-Jaworski Funeral Home and Monuments, the 7-foot-tall monument is surrounded by a concrete plaza and blue granite benches. A flower garden will be added, Ruffing said.