It started with a single flagpole in the town park, which stood for decades to honor those who had served the country. Then, about eight years ago, Washburn residents started creating a tribute courtyard that hasn’t stopped growing.
This year, retired U.S. Air Force MSgt. Larry Harrison and the local Rotary Club hope to pull off the Washburn Area Veterans Memorial’s biggest venture to date: the installation of a sculpture honoring Vietnam veterans.
The $22,000 project would add an approximately 5-foot-tall bronze soldier figure to be dedicated to two area residents who died while serving in the Vietnam War. The addition would be the latest in a string of permanent memorials at the park, and the first solely to honor Vietnam veterans.
Harrison had been thinking about a Vietnam tribute since 2018, when the park saw its first major facelift that included a granite monument to veterans from all wars.
“A gentleman came to me at that time and said, ‘Why don’t you honor the Vietnam veterans?’ The next year we brought the [traveling Vietnam] Wall to Washburn,” Harrison said. “But it came back to me that these veterans are now in their 70s and 80s, and we’re either going to recognize them now or it’s never going to happen.”
Harrison, also a Rotarian, brought the idea to Washburn Rotary members. They’ve already started fundraising and have reached $5,000 so far, he said.
The sculpture will cost $19,000, while the base and installation will cost an additional $3,000. The group must pay $9,500 — half the figure’s cost — by the end of March, and will pay the rest before the statue is shipped.
Reports of Maine’s Vietnam deaths vary from 341 to 343, but the National Archives and American War Library list 343. Of those, 38 hailed from Aroostook County, and two — Dellwyn Fitch and Stuart Woodman — came from the Washburn area.
Both served in the U.S. Army. Fitch, from nearby Perham, died in 1968, while Woodman, a Washburn native, died in 1970, according to the National Archives.
The new statue will be dedicated to them but is meant to honor all Vietnam veterans, Harrison said.
The 5-foot cast bronze sculpture will be set on a 12-inch bronze base, with a nearby laminated board that will contain photos and details about each man.
For Sandra Bowles of Bow, New Hampshire, the project is personal. Fitch was her brother.
“It would be an honor to have the statue there,” she said. “He would have been 78 now. He was killed April 11, and turned 20 on April 25.”
Born in 1948, Fitch had been the first boy for some years in the working farm family. There were only 13 months between them, so she and Dellwyn were almost like twins, she said.
Like most kids growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, they spent most of their time outside — climbing trees, building forts and swimming in the mill pond.
“I was very close to him, closer to him than my other two siblings. I have a lot of scars to prove that — he was quite adventuresome,” she joked. “He played rough and I loved every minute of it.”
She and Fitch had another sister, Sharon, who has died. Their brother, Craig, lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Bowles left the area many years ago. She and her husband, Thomas, also a veteran, have a cabin near Baxter State Park and hope to attend the tribute dedication in August.
In what has become a local tradition, the new bronze piece will be unveiled during the annual Washburn August Festival, which the Rotary Club funds and organizes.
Over the years, club and community efforts have added to the memorial park. A tribute brickyard now contains 360 bricks with names of service members. Then came a granite piece honoring World War II veteran Ed Dahlgren, a bronze battle cross and, in 2025, a German shepherd sculpture and bricks to honor Loring Air Force Base’s military working dogs and handlers.
Among the workers have been local Scouts who, in their quests to become Eagle Scouts, undertook community service projects. Their contributions have included flagpoles, lighting, fencing, stone walkways and signage.
Harrison already has a couple of possible Eagle Scout projects in mind for this latest venture: A 15-foot flagpole with a Vietnam veteran flag and the laminated information board to be placed beside the bronze soldier.
There’s a long way to go with fundraising, but people have been responsive, he said. He’s keeping his fingers crossed.
“Vietnam is the first war that they never took breaks from. Fighting was 24 hours a day,” Harrison said. “World War II was the ‘greatest generation,’ but they say the Vietnam vets are the bravest generation.”
