Veterans Memorial Cross Replacement
Submitted by Deb Sparrow
In 2019, the McClusky Merchant Association awarded the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) $1,500 from gaming funds. The money was designated to help pay for a 30-foot
lighted flagpole with a 6X10 foot US flag. The flagpole was placed at the head of the veteran memorial crosses near the entry to the McClusky Cemetery. At the same time, the American Legion (AL) initiated a veteran memorial cross replacement project as the concrete crosses had deteriorated badly. After completing the flagpole project, the ALA voted to help fund the AL cross replacement project. Initially the plan was to order metal crosses from a company used by the Mercer Cemetery Board for a similar project. However, the
company no longer produced the metal crosses. Thanks to Dale Jorgensen’s commitment to this project, he was able to recruit Ron Schatz, a Mercer blacksmith, to make the crosses.
Dale primed and painted each metal cross with a high gloss paint able to withstand the ND weather. The nameplates from the old concrete crosses were transferred to the metal crosses.
