Plummer Dedicates War Memorial Veteran Leads Drive To Build Monument To Area War Dead

Wesley Cox unfolded paper torn from a yellow notepad to reveal an ink sketch. It showed two sticks on either side of a big rock.

“I’m not much of an artist,” the burly welder said of his design for Plummer’s new war memorial.

His talent as a community organizer was obvious, however, as the monument he conceived two years ago took shape. Dedicated last Saturday in the park next to City Hall, the 5-foot-tall slab of granite contains the names of 19 area men who died in service to their country during the 20th century.

“We’re losing World War II vets at around 1,000 a day,” he said. “ I wanted to get this done while some of them are still around.”

His dad and uncle are both World War II vets. When they saw the memorial, they said: “We should have done this right after the war.”

Cox’s own 22-year Navy career included action in Vietnam and the Gulf War. He retired in 1993 and is commander of American Legion Post 69. The memorial plan began with the desire to erect a flagpole. He convinced his boss, Greg Paulus of Spokane’s Metalite Industries, to donate 30 feet of 4-inch aluminum pipe.

Once the U.S. flag was hoisted, Cox began sharing his idea of a monument. He got eager approval from the City Council, veterans from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe Warrior Society and his fellow legionnaires.

Then the vets went gunning for dollars. It took a year and a half to raise the necessary $2,631.51.

“We gathered up aluminum cans - it takes a lot of cans to raise a dollar,” Cox recalled. “We cleaned out the attic in the legion post, and we had a yard sale. We got private donations, corporate donations. The tribe made a generous donation.”

Cox built a second flagpole for the Idaho flag. Both poles are topped with gleaming gold balls.

Tom Ball of Coeur d’Alene Monument donated his talent to carve the granite, which features an eagle flying over mountains and the words: “Freedom is not Free” and “Members of our community who gave their lives for their country and our freedom.”

The war dead come from the Plummer/Tensed/Worley area. One each died in World War I, Korea and Vietnam. The other 16 died in World War II. A 20th man was a sailor who died aboard the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor. He’s listed as a Washington state resident, and as soon as Cox confirms that he was from Worley, his name will become the 20th on the list.

There’s room for more names. “I’m not sure we got them all,” Cox said. But no future names will be added. This is strictly a 20th century memorial. But Cox wishes there is simply never a need for future names to be added.

“We had five major wars in the last century. I fought in two of them,” he said. “I have a son going in the military, and I don’t want him to go through that stuff.”

The memorial project seemed to take forever.

“We were going to dedicate it on Veterans Day of ‘98, then Memorial Day of ‘99, then Veterans Day of ‘99,” Cox said. “Then we shot for Memorial Day 2000, and didn’t quite make it.”

Instead, the annual Plummer Day celebration provided an opportunity.

“When we were having the ceremony, the cement was a little wet,” Cox said.

Some 150 people turned out to see the unveiling and listen to drumming, prayers and speeches.

Lucy Finley was there, wearing a blue Native American dress and swaying bone necklace. She said a prayer in the Coeur d’Alene language. Her son, Raymond Finley, died in Vietnam and is the last name on the memorial.

Finley remembers Raymond as a fat and cheerful boy. When his oldest brother, Eli Nomee, came home on leave from the Marines, Raymond stood next to his brother, all slim and neat in his uniform.

“He held his breath,” Finley recalled with a chuckle. “I’ll never forget that.”

After graduating from St. Maries High, it was Raymond’s turn to become the lean Marine. He said that he wanted to fight for America. When he died, flags in St. Maries were lowered to half-staff.

“He was a good boy,” his mother said.