Business owner plans Vietnam memorial in Manchester

MANCHESTER - The proprietor of Grumpy Bill's Eatery is not all that grumpy. But William Scott still gets a little testy when he recalls the shabby treatment accorded to him and other Vietnam veterans upon their return from the Southeast Asia war.

To help rectify that slight, Scott is constructing an elaborate memorial to Iowa Vietnam veterans on the three-story south wall of his dining establishment.

'We took so much (ill treatment) when we came home. A lot of the anti-war sentiment was directed as anger at the veterans themselves. It wasn't right, and I want to do something about it,” said Scott, 75, a Navy veteran who served aboard the USS Boyd, a destroyer, during the Vietnam War.

The memorial's main theme, Scott said, will be proclaimed at its top in large letters: 'Welcome home, Vietnam Veterans. Thank you for your service.”

The memorial will cover the south-facing wall of the Manchester building that houses his living quarters and two businesses, the restaurant and River Recreation and More, which rents kayaks and tubes for the city's white water recreation area. It will overlook a city park and the white water course on the Maquoketa River.

Scott said 115,000 Iowans served in the military during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1973. Of those, at least 851 were killed in action, he said.

Though the memorial will not include the names of all the state's Vietnam veterans, it will include the names and biographical data of those killed in the war, he said.

A series of printed panels, the heart of the memorial, will depict the five branches of the armed forces that served in Vietnam, the common medals presented to Vietnam veterans and an image of military personnel superimposed on an outline map of Iowa as the centerpiece.

Scott is self-funding the project, which he estimates will cost from $25,000 to $30,000. Donations are welcome, but will be limited to $100 or less to ensure the project does not get bogged down in bureaucratic restrictions, he said.

Scott said he expects the memorial to be dedicated Nov. 11 on Veterans Day.

'I hope to have the governor here along with about 2,000 Vietnam vets,” he said.

Checks made out to Vietnam War Memorial can be sent to Community Savings Bank, 201 E. Main St., Manchester, IA, 52057.

RELATIVES SOUGHT

Keota is in the process of building a veterans memorial and is looking for relatives of the following people who died while in the service (year of death in parentheses): Wayne N. Alquist (1945); Robert Beaty (1862); Edward Earl Blythin (1918); Frank Bonnarens (1968); Clarence D. Bridges (1945); John O. Brown (1944); Raymond J. Callister (1943); Franklin Connelly (1863); Robert J. Cresswell (1864); Samuel Crowner (1862); Fredd Drumm (1945); William Fulton (1862); Charles Goss (1862); Thomas P. Gray (1863); Alonzo Hinman (1864); Tobias Hites (1865); Isaac M. Home (1864); Thomas E. Home (1861); John D. North (1862); Richard Wayne Palmer (1945); Leon Pickering (1943); William Pickering (1944); Thomas A. Shockley (1862); Dale Shurts (1944); Issac N. Smith (1861); Joe Porter White (1927); Nicholas L. Wilkin (1861); Marion Wolfe (1937); Learly L. Woolems (1918) and William Wright (1861).

Any information should be sent to Larry Gale Sanders, P.O. Box 283, Keota, Iowa, 52248 or call (641) 636-2394.