Published: August 21, 2008 10:25 pm      

Emeigh dedicating veterans’ monument

EMEIGH — John Yurko is one of many veterans from this tiny northern Cambria County community whose military service is recognized on a small monument in the center of town.

But the former paratrooper who jumped out of airplanes during the Vietnam War noticed the marker has gradually deteriorated since it was erected in the 1960s.

“The old memorial just fell apart,” Yurko said. “The bricks were falling off.”

In the spring, Yurko and two friends, Joe Hetrick and Larry Payne, decided it needed to be repaired.

“Three of us pensioners have been looking at it all spring, and we decided we had to do something about it,” Yurko, the project’s treasurer, said.

While Hetrick and Payne engineered the physical repairs, Yurko was elected to be the chief financial officer.

“I went door-to-door and collected money,” Yurko said.

“I had a friend of mine who e-mailed the alumni of Emeigh ... people who moved out a long time ago, to tell them what we were trying to do.”

And the people responded by donating nearly $2,200.

“It’s quite nice,” Yurko said of the new monument, which will be dedicated in a ceremony on Saturday morning.

Suzanne (Hetrick) Zavalansky, of Image Signs in Altoona, said her company was more than happy to help with her father’s project.

“My husband hand-sanded it to bring the brass back to life, and then he painted the background and put a number of ultraviolet clearcoats on it,” Zavalansky said, adding that the community was stepping up to the plate for the veterans. Her brother and her husband’s nephew have served in Iraq.

“It’s so nice to see the community get together,” Zavalansky.

“For the past three weeks since the men have been working on it, it has become a gathering space.

“People keep stopping to see what’s going on, and they find themselves reminiscing about the old days.”

Robert Haberkorn, commander of the 20th District of American Legions, will be part of Saturday’s event. He said he his hoping many veterans from the 19 posts in Cambria County will attend.

“The monument was dedicated years ago to the veterans of that era, and now it will be dedicated to veterans of the past, present and future ones to come,” Haberkorn said. “It shows their service was appreciated by the community.”

Yurko said he is grateful to the past and present residents of Emeigh for their generosity.

“We couldn’t have done this without the people from Emeigh and the alumni, for donating so generously,” Yurko said. “Without them it wouldn’t have been possible.”