VFW Post 609 Commander Gerald Krueger, left, presents a check for $1,200 to Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria Gretchen Bulova to kick off a fundraising campaign Dec. 4 to add names to the War Dead Monument at Union Station. Also pictured are co-contributor and VFW Post 609 Auxiliary member Jessica Krueger and Office of Historic Alexandria staff member Mary Bramley.
The coalition of Alexandria Area Veterans Service Organizations formally kicked off a campaign to raise funds for the city’s War Dead Monument as Gerald Krueger and his wife Jessica, Commander and Auxiliary member of VFW Post 609, presented a check for $1,200 to Gretchen Bulova, the Director of the Office of Historic Alexandria Dec. 4 at the monument located at Union Station.
“The War Dead Monument was completed and dedicated by VFW Post 609 and the City of Alexandria in a huge ceremony on Veterans Day in 1940,” said Krueger, who is spearheading the fundraising campaign. “Over 2,500 attended the dedication, which included the installation of the American flag pole and a ribbon cutting for the monument itself.”
An inscription indicates that the monument was “Erected in Memory of Alexandria War Dead.” At that time, the nation had engaged in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish American War and World War I.
A plaque at the site lists the names of 27 Alexandrians who died in WWI with a duplicate plaque on the wall at Gadsby’s Tavern outside the entrance to American Legion Post 24. Krueger and the VSO committee are looking to add the names of those who fought and died in conflicts up to and including the Vietnam War.
“This monument was dedicated about a year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941,” Krueger said. “Thus, it seems that for more than 80 years we as veterans and the City of Alexandria have not added a plaque to honor those Alexandrians who died fighting in WWII, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.”
Joining VFW Post 609 in the fundraising drive are American Legion Posts 24 and 1775 and the Association of the U.S. Navy Kenyon Anderson Chapter. Members of the Military Officers Association of America Mount Vernon Chapter and the Nelly Custis Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution have pledged financial support, as has the Alexandria Cub Scouts Pack 301.
Bulova and the Office of Historic Alexandria will help verify any names to be added to future plaques.
“The rightful names of those lost in WWII will require some due diligence since it seems the National Archives mixed and matched the ‘home of record’ addresses of many local vets mixing up Alexandria and Arlington,” Krueger said. “And our historians indicate there may be fewer than 10 names for the Korean War Alexandrians.”
As such, the first plaque will honor the 68 local veterans who died or are still missing in action from the Vietnam War. Those names have been well researched and documented by Kevin Rue and the Friends of Rocky Versace organization for the Rocky Versace Memorial Plaza in Del Ray.
“We have assured ourselves that we have the correct 68 names of those Alexandria veterans and intend to place the first additional plaque listing their names at the 1940 monument on Memorial Day of 2024,” Krueger said.
For more information or to learn how to donate, email Kreuger at JerryKrueg@aol.com. The City of Alexandria will issue tax deductible receipts to donors.