Errors go unaddressed on veterans memorial

***Published in the May 2012 edition of Voices of Central Pennsylvania***

Plans have been made to fix the factual errors on the Miles Township Veterans Memorial in Rebersburg, Pa., according to Vonnie Henninger, secretary-treasurer of the Miles Township Bicentennial Committee.

“We know that there are some mistakes on the monument, we plan to fix them and there will be money to fix them,” said Henninger.

According to Henninger, the group of Miles Township citizens that make up the monument correction committee will raise money through fundraising and the mistakes will be fixed once the committee has certain that it has the correct information.

“We have had people come in and tell us that their names are missed, and we’re working on it to make it right,” said Henninger. “We have all intentions of making it right and [we will do] whatever we think is necessary to make corrections.”

State Representative Mike Hanna said he has been to constituent meetings where people have expressed concerns about the monument and has also had conversations with the committee that put the monument together.

“The information, while being generated locally, didn’t follow protocol on what the various categories of veterans are,” said Representative Hanna. “I understand that all of this is being addressed now and I’m going to try to work towards correcting any mistakes that were made.”

Hanna said that, to the best of his knowledge, Miles Township is working cooperatively to get it done. He has also offered any assistance he could provide to help make the corrections happen.

Despite the pledges to make progress the corrections have been a long time coming for local veterans. One veteran in particular, Jim Hironimus, has been fighting extensively to get the corrections made for the honor of all local veterans.

           

“I just want accuracy,” said Hironimus, an Air Force veteran who saw combat in the Vietnam War. “If it’s going to be history, make it accurate. For some people, the biggest thing their life is to have their name on a plaque, so why should their name be up there for something they did and then have someone up there who didn’t do squat. It takes away the honor of being on a monument.”

As written in the October 2011 issue of Voices, the main issue with the monument is the incorrect source data. According to Hanna and Hironimus, the committee that put the monument together used improper methods to gather information for the names on the monument.

Four years ago, before the monument was erected, Vonnie Henninger asked Hironimus to fill out a form so that he could be on the monument. Hironimus told her that that was not the proper way to go about getting the information. The proper way would be to acquire DD-214s, which are the documents issued to veterans that proves they served in the military, according to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

In fact, Hironimus even sent the monument committee a copy of his own DD-214 to show them the way.

“I told [Vonnie] I would be glad to help if she needed help, but she told me that everything was okay. But when they put the names on, a lot of them were wrong,” said Hironimus. “If you were a history major and you were doing a historical project, wouldn’t you make sure you had historical data? There were three historians on the monument committee and none of them asked for any historical data. None. You would think that somebody would ask, especially since I told them they needed historical data.”

And even after the committee was informed that the monument contained errors, they had an easy way to fix it. Hironimus recalled attending a township meeting and mapping out a way for the monument to be fixed at little to no cost.

“I showed [the township supervisors] the forms they needed to give to all the families and gave them a name of a woman who works for a monument company that will give you a discount for metal plaques to put over the mistakes,” said Hironimus. “I said she’ll try to get you a discount or get it done for free, but you have to verify the names.”

And still, the errors remain unfixed while other local projects like the Gramley schoolhouse across the street from the monument are being well attended to.

“My theory is that they’re scared to fix it because half the names on the monument won’t be allowed to be on there. And there’s no room on the monument for corrections. It is a mess,” said Hironimus. “Why doesn’t anybody in Miles Township do anything? Why don’t the other veterans say this is wrong? Because it’s a small town community and everybody knows everybody. They don’t want to raise hell.”

Other problems with the monument include the lack of any mention of the Gulf War—and the inclusion of peacetime veterans in its place—and the fact that, even though some names have actually been taken off as incorrect, the names are still slightly visible.

Hironimus recalled another township meeting where he and two other local veterans showed up to talk with township supervisors about the monument.

“They said ‘Mr. Hironimus, you have five minutes.’ Now these are guys I graduated with and went to school with. And they said ‘Mr. Hironimus, you have five minutes,’” said Hironimus. “I explained my problems and asked who was responsible and whether or not it was going to get fixed. Nothing was said.”

Another veteran, Rich Swartz, said to the supervisors that he wasn’t there about himself; he was there because his son was in Operation Desert Storm and the monument lacks any mention of the Gulf War.

“People don’t care about the monument and they don’t care that it’s wrong. All they know is Uncle Joe’s name is up there and he’s on a monument. And that’s all it is,” said Hironimus about the lack of community outrage regarding the mistakes. “If you’re going to do a job, do it right or don’t do it in the first place. And don’t dishonor veterans.”