Highgrounds MWD Memorial
The Highground (www.thehighground.us) a 150 acre site, a few miles outside the small town of
Neillsville, WI. The memorial
commemorates our involvement in wars since the 1st World War and all subsequent
wars and is dedicated as a place of healing.
You can walk the trails, sit next to a statue, or just lay back and
listen to the gentle wind blowing through the Wisconsin hillside. For such a small town to set aside the land
and build and maintain this beautiful memorial is the true spirit of America’s
Heartland.
After many years had passed, a young
man that I had served with in Okinawa and Vietnam called me and said there was
a memorial being built to honor the War Dogs that had served us, and he wanted
to know if I wanted my dog’s name on the monument. I will be forever grateful, to Ron Sweet of
Cambridge, Wisconsin for the opportunity to have our dog’s names inscribed on
such a monument.
The
names that he had inscribed were: Nikki – Ron Shemanski, Odin (575M) – Gary Weigel, and Duke (601M) – Ron Sweet.
Ron
Shemanski was from Stevens Point, Wisconsin and I was from Pratt, Kansas.
When the dedication day for the monument arrived, my wife and I traveled
from Colorado Springs, Colorado to Wisconsin and the photos I have included are
a few that show the beauty of The Highground Veterans Memorial Park and the
Military Dog monument. It was a great
day to be with friends.
