About THE OHIO VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK

OHIO VETERANS MEMORIAL PARK

The Ohio Veterans Memorial Park is funded solely by private donations and home to monuments honoring our Ohio heroes. The flag-ship of the park is the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall and is the longest free-standing monument in the country. The west side of the wall is also engraved with all of the conflicts that Ohio has been involved with, since the War of 1812. All of the photos on this section of the wall was engraved with actual photos of the wars with the exception of 1812. (There were no cameras). This side of the wall also contains the names of Ohio’s Heroes since the Bombing of Beirut.

Year Founded

The Ohio Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Wall

The west side of the wall is engraved with the names of the 3,095 Ohioans who gave their lives in service to our nation during the Vietnam War. The east side of the wall contains those who gave their lives since the Beirut Bombing up until the current date. The wall will soon contain the names of those lost during the Korean War. It is our mission to make sure that the sacrifices of our Heroes will not be forgotten for generations to come.

It is vital to us, as a nation, to guarantee that those who paid the complete measure are honored and remembered. We must pay tribute to those that made our country, our freedom and our safety possible.

The east side of the wall also contains engraved images and brief histories of the conflicts that Ohio has been involved with since the War of 1812. The American Revolution is not included because we were not yet a state.

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POW / MIA Reflection Pond

The POW / MIA Reflection Pond is the largest POW memorial in the State of Ohio. The wall behind the POW/MIA Pond is designed to in respect to the National wall. The Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park dedicated the POW/MIA Reflection Pond and Eternal Flame on November 13th, 2010. The fifty foot wide by eight foot tall black granite wall was added in May 2013. The shape of the wall was chosen as a tribute to our national memorial. The stone for the wall was quarried from the same location.

The POW/MIA Reflection Pond and Eternal Flame was the first of several monuments that were planned for the east side of the park. The pond sits to the south of The Ohio Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

This monument is made up of a large sitting area surrounded by benches, a four tier waterfall, a walkway, a fifty foot wide pond, a black granite POW/MIA monument, an inverted Vietnam War helmet with the eternal flame and a cast steel POW/MIA seal generously donated by Rolling Thunder.

To the right of the entrance to the pond is a large black granite marker (made of the granite originally ordered for the Ohio Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall) with an excerpt of the history of the POW / MIA flag.

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Gold Star Mother and Father Statues

The Gold Star Mother Statue, that was dedicated to Sharon Lane’s mother, the only female from Ohio killed during combat in the Vietnam War, stares at Sharon’s name on the wall. This was not planned. Our Gold Star Father statue is the first of its kind in the nation.

The Family of Heroes Hall

The Family of Heroes Hall is available for the public to hold services at the park all year around and during inclement weather. We built the hall so our visitors have a place to speak, honor our Heroes, and educate others about the sacrifices of our Heroes. The hall is roughly 50 feet long and 35 feet wide. The hall can comfortably seat 50-60 people inside with tables and 100+ in chairs only. Memorial tiles align the outside of the hall and eventually the inside of the hall will host a small military museum. A park flag signed by five Medal of Honor recipients will adorn the wall of the hall as well as other military memorabilia donated by park visitors. We are also adding an outdoor fireplace to conduct flag retiring services and to provide heat during the winter months.The centerpiece of the hall is the “Heroes Cross.” This is a section of the ceiling that is cut out and holds over 32,000 dog tags; this is the number of Heroes from Ohio who have given their lives since World War I.

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The Purple Heart Monument

In June of 2013 The Purple Heart monument was added to The Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park. The memorial is dedicated to all of those who served honorably and were wounded in service to our nation.

The following year, in May of 2014, the Purple Heart bench was dedicated, to complete The Purple Heart Memorial.

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MEDAL OF HONOR MEMORIAL

Including the first six, 319 recipients of the Medal of Honor have some connection to Ohio. Twenty-three Ohio recipients served in the Navy, one in the Air Force, 3 in the Army Air Corps, 17 in the Marine Corps, the remaining 275 served in the Army.

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The Barn and Stage

The Clinton Cemetery Association purchased the barn that sits in front of The Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park in 2011. They graciously donated the use of the barn and its property to the park. The barn was initially used for storage while plans were being made for how we would use the barn to enhance the park.

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