SENECA, Mo. – The City of Seneca is building a veterans memorial on the southside of City Hall to honor veterans and current military service members

Eight flag poles will line the way with five branches of the military included. The American flag, Missouri flag, POW, Marines, Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard flags will all fly at the memorial site. 

The newest branch of the military, the U.S. Space Force, will not be included yet, as it was not in existence during planning phases for the memorial. The site will also include a granite bench and special lighting.

United States Air Force veteran and long-time Seneca school teacher Lee Hall came up with the idea for the memorial a few years ago while visiting the nearby Sarcoxie Days festival. Hall and his grandson had a booth at the event and were able to witness a dedication to Sarcoxie’s veterans. 

“I walked down and was watching it. It kind of did something to me,” Hall said. “I talked to the mayor, Mark Bennett. He thought [a new memorial] was a good idea and said to come to the City Council and talk to them. I did and they thought it was a great idea. They told me to come up with a location, come up with prices for the concrete and flag poles. So that’s what I did.”

After reporting back to City Hall a month later, the Council gave Hall the green light for the project.

Then COVID-19 struck, and one of Seneca’s primary businesses shut down. According to Hall, the entire town’s economy took a big hit. 

Hall said he quit hearing talks about the memorial at that point, until he ran into Mayor Bennett at the grocery store. After a quick reminder, plans were back on.

Although the city no longer had the monetary gains for the project, the community came together with private donations and rapidly hit their $21,900 goal. 

The city plans to have a ribbon cutting ceremony slated for Veteran’s Day on November 11th, 2021.

Local veteran owned and operated Brock and Bard Construction put a bid on the project and will be building the memorial. For more information and to keep up with the project, those interested can visit their Facebook page.