Harnett County Veterans Memorial, Lillington
The memorial consists of three granite panels. The center vertical marker has etched wording on it. Two smaller horizontal panels on either side have bronze plaques with the names of veterans who sacrificed their lives in World War I and World War II. On the rear of the center panel is a bronze plaque with the names of Korean Conflict and Vietnam Era dead that was added at a later time. The vertical marker is approximately 5 feet tall and 2 feet wide, horizontal panels are approximately 2 and 1/2 feet tall and 3 and 1/2 feet wide. When originally placed in 1949 all three panels were attached to each other on a single base.
Images (courtesy of Natasha Smith):
Center panel |
Left panel inscription |
Right panel inscription |
Rear plaque |
Rear view of the memorial |
View of the Memorial Park |
Entrance to the Memorial Pak
Center Panel. THIS MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO THE / CITIZENS OF HARNETT COUNTY / BY THE HARNETT COUNTY BOARD OF / COMMISSIONERS THROUGH THE HARNETT / COUNTY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION / IN HONOR TO THOSE WHO SERVED / THEIR COUNTRY
Left column: MEMBERS OF / MEMORIAL / ASSOCIATION / FRED D. JACKSON (CHM) / L.B MCLEAN (SEC) / FRANCIS DUNCAN / CARL A BYRD (PUBLICITY) / L.E MCKNIGHT / O.K KEEN / FRANK LEWIS / 1917-1918
Right column: BOARD OF COUNTY / COMMISSIONERS / ANGUS A. CAMERON / L.A TART / R.L PATE / L.R BYRD / FERD D. JACKSON / 1941-1945
Center: ERECTED 1949
Left Panel: IN MEMORY OF / HARNETT COUNTY VETERANS / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES / IN WORLD WAR I / JESSE M. AVERY / WALTER K. BAREFOOT / CHESTER A. BARNES / HENRY T. BUCHANAN / GILBERT CAMERON / ANDY COLLINS / THOMAS H. COLEVILLE / KING DUDLEY / RUSSELL JARMAN / JAMES A. JOHNSON / JOHN A. JOHNSON / WILLIAM F. JONES / RAS MATTHEWS / W.H. MATTHEWS / WALTER P. MATTHEWS / ALLEN B. MCLEAN / COLON G. SHAW / CHARLIE G. SMITH / ARTHUR R. STEWART / PALMER E. AUTRY / CHARLES E. BAGGETT / EDGAR W. BAGGETT, JR. / V. WINSTON BARNES / EDWARD E. BEASLEY / JESS G BEASLEY / CHARLES E. BENNETT / HERMAN A. BENNETT / WILLIAM C. BENNETT / JOHN B. BETHEA / JAMES B BLALOCK / FRANCIS BROUGHTON / LEWIS B. BUIE / WILLIAM BUTLER / HOWARD BUTTS / FRED M. CAUDELL, JR. / EUGENE COFIELD / OTIS COLVILLE / EDWARD CONNER / JACK D. GORE / ODIS E. GORE / ALLIE R. CURRIN / CHESTER A. DAVIS / ALVAH J. DENTON / ROBERT L. DEW / ARNOLD DOUGLASS / WILLIAM DOUGLASS / WILLIAM DOUGLE / EDWARD R. ENNIS / GEORGE L. FUQUAY, JR. / JOHN H. GILES, JR. / VERNON L. GODWIN / LAURIE J. GRIFFIN / CLARENCE R. HAIR / JOHN D. HARRINGTON / CHARLES T. HENRY / JAMES E. HOCKADAY / ROBERT S. JERNIGAN / ROBERT H. JOHNSON
Right Panel: HARNETT COUNTY VETERANS / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES / IN WORLD WAR II / WARREN H. JOHNSON / JOHN E. KING / SAMUEL E. KNOX / FULTON P. LANIER, JR. / JAMES H. LEE / JOHN L. LEE / JASPER LUCAS / HERBERT LUCAS / MARGARET E. LUCAS / DAVID D. MAHONE / CHARLES D. MARZADRO / ROBERT L. MCKINNEY / JAMES G. MCLAMB / MURDOCK M. MCLAUGHLIN / LESLIE A. MCNEILL / RALPH K. MITCHELL / EARL S. MOORE / SILAS E. MOORE / FRED A. MYATT / WILLIAM NORDAN / JOSEPH M. MORRIS, JR. /HENRY C. OUSLEY, JR. / BRENTON C. PAGE / WILLIAM W. PARKER / WAYLON T. PLEASANT / KENNETH M. RAYFORD / WORTH T. REGISTER / HAYWOOD B. ROBERTS / JOHN C. RYALS / JOSEPH RYALS / CHARLIE SANFORD / HUBERT L. SILLS / ERNEST A. SIMMONS / DORSEY W. SLAUGHTER / BENJAMIN W. SMITH / JAMES M. SMITH / JERRY A. SMITH / WILLARD J. SMITH WILLIAM G. SPIVEY / PAUL R. STARLING / ALBERT M STEPHENSON / CLYDE L. STEWART / ROGER H. STEWART / WILLIAM M. STONE / ROBERT V. SUGGS / WINDSOR B. SURLES / ATLAS C. TART / WILLIAM P. TART / GEORGE D. THOMAS / JAMES H. TRIPP / WILLIAM A. TYNDALL / BOYD VUNGANNON / TILGHMAN L. WADE / JAMES O. WARREN, JR. / WILLIAM J. WASHINGTON / HOWARD WELLS / HOWARD W. WEST / CHARLIE V WILSON / RALPH L .WINSTEAD / JAMES O. WOOD
Inscription rear: IN MEMORY OF / HARNETT COUNTY VETERANS / WHO LOST THEIR LIVES / KOREAN CONFLICT / [Left Column] ALTEMUS, ROBERT J. / BRASWELL, VERNON L. / CROOM, ARCHIE T., JR. / DENNING, HENRY P. / [Right Column] ELLEN, FRED D. / GODWIN, ELI / SMITH, EDWARD M. / WADE, WILLIE R.
VIETNAM ERA /
[Left Column] BISCHOFF, JOHN M. / BUTLER, JAMES EDWARD / BYRD, JAMES EDWARD / CAMPBELL, DONNY RAE / COOK, CHARLES / DENNIS, JERRY ALLEN / DRAUGHON, ISAAC RAY / GIES, MARVIN ARTHUR / HALL, JAMES LUTHER / JOHNSON, ALBERT LEE / LEE, KENNETH MAC /
[Right Column] LEE, ROY RONALD / MASON, RICHARD FLOYD / MC KOY, LARRY D. / MC MILLIAN, ROBERT DAVID / MC NEIL, LONNIE EARL / PARNELL WILLIAM BRICE / PARRISH, LEONARD MONROE / PHILLIPS, GERALD ARTHUR / SMITH, ROBERT LOUIS / STEWART, DONALD DAVIS / WICKER, EUGENE WESLEY
Harnett County
May 30, 1949
35.420210 , -78.809860
View in Geobrowse
"Harnett County Veterans Memorial," The Historical Marker Database, HMdb.org, (accessed June 13, 2021) Link
"Harnett County Veterans Memorial," http://www.historicalmarkerproject.com, (accessed June 13, 2015) Link
"Harnett Plans Memorial Rites." The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), May 27, 1949
"NAMES OF ALL HEROES BEING SOUGHT." Harnett County News, June 3, 1948
“Harnett Veterans Memorial,” The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), April 29, 1949
“NOTICE.” Harnett County News, June 3, 1948
Yes
Granite, bronze
Harnett County Board of Commissioners
$3,000
The dedication of the monument was held Monday morning at 11 o’clock on the courthouse square. Clinton Beckwith, the assistant attorney general of North Carolina and a World War I veteran, spoke at the dedication. Rev. Frank Blue gave the invocation. The county school superintendent and former commander of the Lillington Legion Post, Reid Ross, presided over the ceremony.
On June 3rd, 1948 the Harnett County Veterans’ Association placed a notice in the Harnett County News appealing to families to send them the names of service men and women, both white and colored, who had died while in service during World War One and World War Two. The notice said that the names were needed in order to be engraved on a bronze plaque for a monument in Courthouse Square.
The memorial is located in the Harnett County Veterans Park at 299 W. Cornelius Harnett Blvd. Lillington, NC 27546. The park is in an open field to the right of the Harnett County Courthouse. The courthouse address is 301 W. Cornelius Blvd., Lillington, NC 27546.
The monument is in a grassy field in a planting bed setting, fronted by a sidewalk where pedestrians can easily view it.
The memorial was originally placed at the 1898 courthouse located on the northeast corner of Main Street and Front Street in downtown Lillington, NC. Construction of the current courthouse was completed in 2003 and the memorial relocated to Harnett County Veterans Park which was dedicated on November 11, 2004.
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