COLORADO 'IN GOD WE TRUST' MONUMENT

The "In God We Trust" monument at the Col. Leo S. Boston War Memorial Park recently was featured in "The Numismatist" magazine after author and photographer Robert B. Kelley happened to be driving by and viewed it.

The Numismatist features articles on such topics as coins, tokens, medals, paper money and stock certificates.

The monument spells out the "In God We Trust," which was made by students in the Cañon City High School metal shop, who made the letters out of 4-by-8-foot sheets of steel.

After the letters were built, volunteers dumped the pennies into a cement mixer, filled with vinegar and silica sand to clean them so they could be glued to the letters.

War Memorial Committee member and Vietnam veteran Dennis Withers said he expects the final "T" to be completed in the near future. The committee had to do some repair on the final "T" when the epoxy cracked. The "T" will be completed with the saying, "You've never lived until you've almost died. For those who fight for it, life has a flavor to protect, you will never know."

For each American life that was lost in Vietnam, there are 58,272 pennies attached to the monument, dated between 1965 and 1971.

"We collected (the pennies) at a different rate than what we posted them," Withers said. "Our biggest years for casualties in Vietnam were 1967, 1968 and 1969."

The original wall and the brick was established around 1996 or 1997, Withers said. The first phase to complete the Memorial Park started about 2004.

To read the complete article, see: 'In God We Trust' monument featured in "The Numismatist" magazine (www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/ci_25650013/god-we-trust-monument-featured-numismatist-magazine)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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