NORTH KINGSVILLE – Looking through old photo albums, Luke Stevens learned of a relative bravely serving in the Korean War. It was a story that was nearly lost to time.
That story, however, is not the only one Stevens discovered that was nearly forgotten, which led the Edgewood High School senior to use his Eagle Scout project to do something to ensure that those stories are remembered.
“I found that the Korean War veterans aren’t really represented,” Stevens said. “Even in the public school education system, nobody really talks about the Korean War and what the veterans did for this country and the things that they suffered through. I just really felt like I should honor them and the sacrifices that they made for this country. It’s often called the forgotten war, and I really don’t want it to be forgotten.”
Stevens, the son of Loren and Chris Stevens, personally knows of a couple of veterans of the Korean War.
“I found out (my grandma’s brother) and his story looking through some photo albums with my grandma,” Stevens said. “He was wounded seven times in Korea, and he walked five to six miles behind enemy lines to get back to the nearest aid station. He was basically life-flighted by helicopter to the hospital, and that story was almost forgotten.”
In honor of those who served in the Korean War, Stevens, a member of Kingsville Boy Scout Troop 11, erected a memorial in North Kingsville Community Park.
“It’s nice to know there’s individuals out there that care like this,” North Kingsville Mayor Terry McConnell said. “My generation is different. We grew up knowing about this stuff, knowing what was going on. It really does (mean a lot to us), to have somebody have the passion and enthusiasm about the history.”
The project is personal for Stevens.
“Whether I was a Scout or not, I probably would’ve done something similar to this,” Stevens said. “It is very personal for me that I honor veterans. I’m very grateful to live in this country. I’m very thankful for the veterans that defend this country. I do online memorial stuff with Find-A-Grave. It’s just very personal to me that these veterans get remembered for what they’ve done.”
At the top of the memorial are images depicting Korean War soldiers.
The memorial’s inscription reads:
Dedicated to remember the sacrifice paid by the veterans of the Korean War
1950-1953
“We didn’t do much talking,
We didn’t raise a fuss.
But Korea really happened
So please – remember us.”
– Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Prinselaar
Stevens chose Prinselaar’s quote from a book written by the veteran.
“He was in the Coast Guard and the Navy, and he served during the Korean War,” Stevens said. “It’s very powerful. I found that in his book he wrote about some of his experiences in the Korean War. It was almost like this call or this plea for help to not be forgotten.”
The monument was completed on Tuesday, July 28.
“We were going to do the boots and the rifle stuck in the ground. That monument price, due to prices increasing, went up like crazy. It went up like six grand. There was no way we could get that much money raised in that amount of time, so we decided to contact Haines Memorials and that is really what got the ball rolling. He really knows when he’s doing when he’s putting up memorials,” Stevens said.
Stevens worked on the project for nearly a year with planning, fundraising and building the memorial.
“It was amazing,” Stevens said. “It turned out way better than I could’ve ever imagined. I really did like the rifle in the ground, but this is so much more powerful because we used actual images from the Korean War for the design. We put those together in Photoshop and I picked out the quote, everything that it says. I think it just turned out way more powerful than I ever could’ve imagined.”
The memorial has been placed in the open field in the park, though Stevens, a resident of Kingsville Township, initially hoped to place it in his hometown.
“We were hoping to put it in the park by the gazebo, but since it’s almost my 18th birthday and I’m really on a time constraint, we decided to move it to the park in North Kingsville,” Stevens said.
“I live in Kingsville,” Stevens said. “(American Legion Neal Post 743) had paid for our summer camp sometimes and I remember talking, I believe it was Will Runyan, and was talking about if I ever needed help with and Eagle Scout project I could always go talk to him. I always wanted to keep the monument more local. I went to the meeting, and we figured out we could place it in the park here in North Kingsville.”
Stevens is grateful for the assistance of Troop 11, American Legion Neal Post 743, American Legion Cowle Post 151, Ashtabula VFW Post 943, Conneaut Elks Lodge, Haines Memorials, Thomas Walker and Nate Dickinson for either assisting in the memorial’s construction or making a monetary donation toward completing the project.
Stevens raised $3,300 to build the monument.
“They all chipped in and really made this project happen,” Stevens said. “It was very powerful, and I’m so thankful for everyone that donated to it. It really means a lot to see that people care about the purpose of putting this memorial up because talking to most people my age, they don’t know what it is and they don’t want to contribute. It really warms my heart to see there’s so many people that are willing to help with something like this.”
Troop 11 Committee Chair Donna Manupella served as Stevens’ mentor on the project.
Haines Memorials assisted throughout the project, but Troop 11, led by John Repasky, provided a good bit of the manual labor.
“He made sure all the Scouts were involved, and I’ve really got to put some credit into the rest of my Scout troop,” Stevens said. “They really helped put in the foundation. It’s not an easy process. That hole was like three feet deep. Most of the scouts dug it by hand. Mainly what I did was pour in the concrete. The scouts did most of the digging.”
“Without Haines Memorials, we would’ve been mixing all that concrete by hand,” Stevens continued. “I want to thank my Scout master. My parents and my grandparents are very supportive of this project. I know when we were struggling to get some donations, I had all members of my family saying, ‘Hey, we’ll contribute if you can’t raise enough.’ It just really meant a lot. All of them really helped see this project through. My parents have been there for me, especially because, at times, I wondered if this was going to get done. I didn’t decide I wanted to do an Eagle Project until last year.”
Stevens was also grateful for the assistance of the members of Troop 11.
“I’m definitely thankful,” Stevens said. “We had multiple scouts who said they’d be there no matter what. It really meant a lot that there’s other scouts in my troop (who wanted to help). I hope this inspires them to do an Eagle Scout project of their own for those, maybe, who were on the border of deciding to go Eagle or to quit before then or not pursuing it.”
Stevens’ family is proud of the work he did.
“My wife and I both were very proud,” Loren Stevens said. “He made up his mind what he wanted to do for a project, and he handled everything and got it done.”
McConnell hopes the memorial is just the start of something bigger.
“I’m proud that we could do this and he brought it here,” McConnell said. “It goes good with the 250th (anniversary of the Declaration of Independence). For us to have another memorial here, I hope it inspires others. Maybe we could get a couple more next to it. I hope this inspires other people to contribute to projects like this, even if it’s putting a bench out there or big rocks so we could turn it into a memorial garden.”
