Doddridge County Roots
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Military Veterans of Doddridge County
| Pre-World War II Civil War Spanish-American War World War I |
| WORLD WAR II |
| Post-World War II Korea Vietnam Desert Storm War on Terror |
The Veterans Memorial Project
In association with the Doddridge County Historical Society, this website has
undertaken a project to create a digital version of the Doddridge County Veterans
Memorial Wall of Honor that has stood on the court house lawn in West Union for
decades.
The original Honor Roll of Doddridge County veterans was hand-painted on the
wooden wall by the Ladies Auxiliaries of veterans organizations, with updates to be
added as needed. This Wall of Honor was later enclosed behind glass. The veterans'
names are listed alphabetically, and grouped by war. Inserting new names and
changing incorrect entries proved to be difficult, and space for adding the names of
veterans of the current generation is at a premium. As a solution, three LED displays
were installed several years ago and programmed to continuously scroll the names of
all the veterans entitled to be inscribed on the wall.
The Veterans Memorial Wall of Honor is a prominent and revered landmark in
Doddridge County, so it seemed only natural to use it as a motif when adding a military
page to our website. But we wanted to have more than just a another list. As
genealogists and historians, our idea was to recognize and honor each veteran as a
person, not just a name. The approach is to create a "digital plaque" for each veteran,
with a very brief description of his/her military service, as well as a photograph if
available. Placed into one of three groups according to time of service, the plaques are
displayed above in continuous slideshows. Each slideshow can be viewed fullscreen,
with the ability to scroll ahead or back, and to pause on a specific veteran's entry.
This is an ambitious undertaking, to say the least. Our primary resource is a list of
2,200 names of Doddridge County veterans, grouped by their service in one of four
wars, with no other clues. Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans were not
included. The challenge now is to match the listed names with real people, determine
their military service and Doddridge County connection, try to find a suitable photograph,
and then create the digital plaque. With the project only about 20% complete, we have
found many names impossible to identify, while also discovering some veterans who
should have been listed but weren't, and a few others whose connection to the county is
questionable. We have also opted to include any Civil War and Spanish-American War
veterans who become known to us.
This is where we ask for your help. You can access that same list of Doddridge County
veterans on a page of the WVGenWeb. There will probably be people who you know on
that list, or maybe you're on the more current one yourself. If you have information or a
photograph for any listed veteran, and you see that he/she is missing from the
slideshow above, or that their entry is lacking in some way, or that a rightful name is
missing from the list, please email us with what you have. Or you can send it by regular
mail to: Military, c/o Doddridge County Historical Society, PO Box 444, West Union, WV
26456. Submissions in any form cannot be returned and will become the property of
the Doddridge County Historical Society.
Your support of this project is greatly appreciated. We want to do right by our veterans,
just as they did right for our country.
undertaken a project to create a digital version of the Doddridge County Veterans
Memorial Wall of Honor that has stood on the court house lawn in West Union for
decades.
The original Honor Roll of Doddridge County veterans was hand-painted on the
wooden wall by the Ladies Auxiliaries of veterans organizations, with updates to be
added as needed. This Wall of Honor was later enclosed behind glass. The veterans'
names are listed alphabetically, and grouped by war. Inserting new names and
changing incorrect entries proved to be difficult, and space for adding the names of
veterans of the current generation is at a premium. As a solution, three LED displays
were installed several years ago and programmed to continuously scroll the names of
all the veterans entitled to be inscribed on the wall.
The Veterans Memorial Wall of Honor is a prominent and revered landmark in
Doddridge County, so it seemed only natural to use it as a motif when adding a military
page to our website. But we wanted to have more than just a another list. As
genealogists and historians, our idea was to recognize and honor each veteran as a
person, not just a name. The approach is to create a "digital plaque" for each veteran,
with a very brief description of his/her military service, as well as a photograph if
available. Placed into one of three groups according to time of service, the plaques are
displayed above in continuous slideshows. Each slideshow can be viewed fullscreen,
with the ability to scroll ahead or back, and to pause on a specific veteran's entry.
This is an ambitious undertaking, to say the least. Our primary resource is a list of
2,200 names of Doddridge County veterans, grouped by their service in one of four
wars, with no other clues. Civil War and Spanish-American War veterans were not
included. The challenge now is to match the listed names with real people, determine
their military service and Doddridge County connection, try to find a suitable photograph,
and then create the digital plaque. With the project only about 20% complete, we have
found many names impossible to identify, while also discovering some veterans who
should have been listed but weren't, and a few others whose connection to the county is
questionable. We have also opted to include any Civil War and Spanish-American War
veterans who become known to us.
This is where we ask for your help. You can access that same list of Doddridge County
veterans on a page of the WVGenWeb. There will probably be people who you know on
that list, or maybe you're on the more current one yourself. If you have information or a
photograph for any listed veteran, and you see that he/she is missing from the
slideshow above, or that their entry is lacking in some way, or that a rightful name is
missing from the list, please email us with what you have. Or you can send it by regular
mail to: Military, c/o Doddridge County Historical Society, PO Box 444, West Union, WV
26456. Submissions in any form cannot be returned and will become the property of
the Doddridge County Historical Society.
Your support of this project is greatly appreciated. We want to do right by our veterans,
just as they did right for our country.
No Drums, No Bugles This 1972 film, based on a true story, stars Martin Sheen as a conscientious objector hiding in Doddridge County during the Civil War. Filmed on location, it was directed by Clyde Ware, a Doddridge native whose credits include the movie Coward of the County and the television classics Gunsmoke and Bonanza. |
