City of Washougal hopes to build new veterans memorial

The city of Washougal has launched an effort to construct a veterans memorial at the Washougal Cemetery.

The Washougal Veterans Memorial “will be a permanent commemoration to honor local heroes who have served our great country,” according to Michelle Wright, the City’s public works business administrator.

“When I first saw Washougal’s (current) veteran memorial, it was overgrown (with weeds) and needed some love,” Wright said. “People who gave their all should be remembered in a way you should be proud of. The memorial project offers an opportunity for appreciative citizens to help honor veterans.”

The City is seeking donations and applying for grants for the project, the price of which “is still to be determined,” according to Wright.

“Currently the City has some funding,” she added, “but we just started our donation process and once we finalize designs, we can start looking for grant opportunities.”

The project will add to the current memorial by constructing six additional monuments (one for each branch of the military), which will be engraved with the names of local veterans, as well as a flag retirement pit, to be used by Girl Scouts and other local organizations.

“I’m passionate about the veteran memorial because I have had many family members that are veterans,” Wright said. “This saying has impacted my life: ‘All gave some, some gave all. Dedicated to the memory of all who proudly served and protected their country.’ My father-in-law was a Korean War veteran, and the inspiration for me and why this project is so meaningful.”

The City is working with Antoinette Lettiere, the owner of Vancouver-based Covalent Architecture, who created a pre-preliminary design rendering, which was recently shared with the City’s parks and cemetery board.

“The hope is to continue working with the board and the community on getting feedback to continue developing these designs,” Wright said. “It has been great working with Antoinette on this project; she listens to everyone’s ideas and can take those ideas and make them into an amazing design.”

Clairlynne Cothren, a Washougal High School senior and member of Washougal-based Girl Scout Troop 45703, is working on the project to attain a Girl Scout Gold Award, the “most prestigious award in girl scouting,” according to Wright.

“It would mean a lot to me,” Cothren said about the award. “Throughout my entire Girl Scout life for the past nine years, I’ve been constantly wanting to do my Gold Awards. It’s kind of been like a dream that we’ve all wanted to do. I’ve always been thinking about what I’ve wanted to do (for my project). Now that I’m in the process of doing it, the idea of earning my Gold Award and actually completing my project is just an amazing thought. I really like it.”

Girl Scouts must complete 80 hours of work on their chosen project, which must impact “a bigger portion of their community,” according to Cothren.

“I think I’m around halfway there,” said Cothren, who joined Troop 45703 when she was in the third grade. “Throughout the next couple of months, I will for sure be getting a ton more hours because the process (will be) speeding up. We’ll be out of the planning stage and more into the actual handy stage, getting stuff done.”

Cothren has been advising members of Washogal’s park and cemetery board about proper flag retirement protocols and providing input about the fire pit selection process. She hopes to lead the City’s first flag retirement ceremony once the memorial is finished.

“My Girl Scout troop has been putting up flags up and down the Washougal cemetery every Memorial Day,” she said. “We did a patch on proper flag retirement and flag burning, and it made me realize that we didn’t have anything around Washougal to do that properly. I was looking at the Washougal cemetery, and it had a ton of old flags that needed to be retired. (People) never knew how to do it, and so I thought that it would be good to teach them and to get it out there of how to properly retire a flag and to create a space for that to be done.”

An American flag “should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning,” when it is “in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display,” according to the United States Flag Code.

“You’re giving the flags one last chance to be honored,” Cothren said. “You burn them, and you have to scatter their ashes, usually in a memorial garden, or you hold them until you know where you need to put them. There’s a lot of talking, and there’s a lot of scripts and stuff that you need to follow.”

Cothren said that working on the project has been an enjoyable experience.

“I like seeing the other people’s reaction to it, people in the community,” she said. “I like when they hear what I’m doing. They really like it, and I think it brings them a sense of joy, because they know that they don’t have it, but now that they (wil), it’s a good thing. I like seeing that reaction from people.”

The City will hold its annual Memorial Day ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, May 27, at the cemetery. The event will feature guest speakers, a rifle salute, the playing of “Taps,” and the retirement of colors.

To donate to the memorial effort, visit cityofwashougal.us/764/Veterans-Memorial-Im provements.