PHOTO OF THE DAY: TAKING NAMES
If Karen Watson has anything to say about it, a new monument celebrating a new group of military personnel will be erected at the Freeman Area Veteran’s Memorial in time for Veteran’s Day 2026. Here’s what The Courier wrote about it in its editorial published in the Oct. 1 edition.
Contact Karen about a new monument
Karen Watson has a date on the calendar circled in her mind — Nov. 11, 2026.
Veterans Day.
That’s the self-imposed deadline she has given herself to see a new monument built at the Freeman Area Veterans Memorial recognizing those who have served in more recent conflicts: specifically, the Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), the Iraq War (2003-2011) and the Afghanistan War (2001-2021).
The Courier hasn’t reported much on this effort, but the Freeman woman has been taking steps toward this end for several months that has included contact with the Freeman City Council, which owns the memorial and memorial grounds located on Sixth Street, and is supportive of her effort.
But Karen is running into a challenge: She’s not getting names of those who have served, and without names, there is no marker.
“I’m just not getting traction,” she told The Courier. “Several veterans contacted me but they won’t commit to putting their name on it, and I don’t know why.
She wondered, “Do they think it’s going to cost them?”
It won’t. Any expense associated with the construction and placement of a new marker will be covered through the veteran’s memorial fund that belongs to the city.
“If we have to put the names on afterward, it’s going to cost extra,” Karen says. “Now it won’t cost them anything.”
She also wondered, “Maybe they don’t promote self.”
Could be.
“But I’m willing to talk to mothers,” she laughed.
Karen is a mother herself, to Adam, who was an airman who served in Afghanistan, where she notes the military presence by the United States is what triggered a change that allowed girls to go to school.
“We take for granted that our daughters can do the things that they can do,” she said.
It’s that kind of positive impact that soldiers have had through participation in foreign conflict that a memorial should and will honor — taking its rightful place next to the existing monuments that recognize the names of those who served in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, dedicated on Memorial Day of 1999.
So if you are a veteran of a new generation of military might — even if not from Freeman, she says — contact Karen today.
She can be reached by phone or text at 605-595-8196 or by email at watsongk@gwtc.net.
