Saturday is Veterans Day, and as we remember the many veterans who have served Vashon-Maury, we should also remember and take time to visit the six veteran memorials on the island.

After World War I, November 11 was known as Armistice Day and was first celebrated in 1919 to recognize the veterans of “The Great War.” In 1938, Armistice Day became a federal holiday. Veterans Day was first celebrated on Nov. 11, 1954, following an eight-year effort led by World War II veteran Raymond Weeks to have Armistice Day recognize all veterans, not just those veterans of World War I, and to be renamed Veterans Day.

The six Vashon veterans memorials include:

The Memorial Monument Vashon Cemetery

On Memorial Day 1921, the 14-foot granite Memorial Monument in the Vashon Cemetery was unveiled. The original monument recognized veterans of the Civil War on one side, the Spanish-American War veterans on another side, veterans of The Great War (it was not called World War I at that time and would not be called that until after the Second World War) on the third side, and the fourth side was dedicated “To the Unknown Dead.”

Nearly 1,000 islanders observed the unveiling of the Memorial Monument on a clear, sunny, cloudless Memorial Day. This was when the island only had about 3,000 residents. That would be the equivalent of a crowd of 4,000 turning out today. The Civil War veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic draped the monument with a wreath of evergreens and flowers were scattered at the base of “The Unknown Dead” side of the monument.

Plaques have been added to the base of the Memorial to recognize veterans of World War II, The Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The World War II Island Roll of Honor

Developed by Postmaster Ed Ober and the Vashon VFW, The World War II Island Roll of Honor was displayed in the VFW Hall, until the Hall was sold. It is now displayed in the Vashon Heritage Museum. The compilation of the Island Roll of Honor was begun in 1943 to pay tribute to the island’s military men and women.

A gold star was placed next to the names of the 13 lost: Harold Agren, Douglas Bacchus, Thomas Bacchus, Hans Hermansen, Russell Hoflin, John Ingraham, Robert Marshall, John McKinstry, Robert McQuade, John Miller, Einar Moe, Oscar Nelson, and Robert Shumway.

Vashon veterans served in every branch of the armed services and in every theater of the war. Of the 431 men and women recorded, many members of the same families served, and each community sent its young off to become what would later be called “the greatest generation.”

There are 20 women among the names, and 12 of the veterans were Japanese American islanders who had been exiled and imprisoned before they volunteered and were sent to the European front.

The Bacchus Memorial Garden

The Bacchus Memorial Garden was built behind the Vashon Memorial Library, which is now the Vashon Senior Center. The Bacchus family sent four sons to war, but, as the war neared its end, only two returned.

Thomas, a Lieutenant, was flying Hellcat fighters in the Philippines when he was shot down in November 1944, saluting farewell to his wingmate as his “plane plunged in a tailspin to the ground.” Only two months later Douglas “Ladd”, a 2nd Lieutenant in training as a bombardier in Texas, hooked a ride home for leave and died when his plane crashed in the Oregon mountains.

Donald, an Army sergeant who fought in Italy and was then returned to the United States, and Sydney, the youngest, who had just joined the Navy, was reassigned to Sand Point Naval Air Station in Seattle, to complete his training.

Unfortunately, this memorial is sadly neglected. A storage shed stands in front of Thomas Bacchus’s memorial plaque and the brickwork and the title mosaic need restoration.

Harold Agren, Agren Memorial Park

Agren Park is named in honor of Lieutenant Harold E. Agren, a 1932 graduate of Vashon High School and a 1940 graduate of the University of Washington. At the UW, he rowed lightweight eights for the Huskies in 1935 and 1936, sitting in the stroke seat — one of the most important seats in the shell, because the stroke oarsman sets the swing and cadence of the boat under the call of the coxswain.

He majored in physical education, planning to teach after graduation, and was in the Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) receiving his commission as a Lieutenant in 1939. Following his graduation, he was called to active duty in May 1941 and sailed to the Philippines where he was stationed at Nichols Field outside of Manila. When the Japanese attacked in December 1941, he fought with the Americans at Corregidor until the island, at the mouth of Manila Harbor, fell in May 1942.

With the fall of Corregidor, Harold was imprisoned at the Japanese prisoner-of-war camp at Cabanatuan, where he died of malaria and dysentery. His family learned of his death in August 1945 with the end of the War. In August 1955, Harold’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eric F Agren, donated a 30-acre tract to the people of Vashon for a park. The park was named Agren Memorial Park and the flag and the two dogwood trees at the entrance are in honor of Lt. Agren.

The Vashon Vietnam Memorial

The Vashon Vietnam Memorial recognizes the Vashon young men killed in the Vietnam War.

Eleven of them are memorialized on “The Wall” at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., and all 12 are memorialized at the Vashon Vietnam Memorial.

This memorial represents the harsh impact the Vietnam War had on this small community. When the war began in the mid-1960s, the Island strongly supported it. St Patrick’s in Dockton contributed to a servicemen’s chapel for Thanksgiving services. Vashon Presbyterian Church sent packages to servicemen serving in Vietnam. For Christmas, Ed Joslin and the Jaycees sent 34 Christmas packages to Vashon servicemen in Vietnam.

But by the early 1970s, opinion had shifted, and one reason was the loss of the Vashon 12 — a significant percentage loss of young men that was experienced by many small rural communities.

The Vietnam War escalated quickly after President Johnson sent troops in 1965, and Vashon was shocked when the five young Islanders were lost in eight months in 1966. The next year, two more were lost, in 1968, Vashon lost three more, and in 1969, Vashon lost its last young man in Vietnam. The twelfth Vashon serviceman who is recognized on the Vashon Vietnam Memorial died in 1986 after returning home as a result of injuries and PTSD suffered in Vietnam.

Robert Bennedsen Memorial

1st Lieutenant Robert N. Bennedsen grew up on Vashon, graduated in 2004 from Vashon High School, and received his bachelor’s degree in 2008 from Seattle University. He was killed in an attack on his unit on July 18, 2010, a month after he had arrived in Afghanistan.

His company commander, Captain Kevin Ryan, described Bennedsen as a fearless leader. He was attempting to help fellow military members in a disabled vehicle when he was killed by a roadside bomb. The 1st Lieutenant Robert N. Bennedsen Visitor’s Memorial Bench is located at Vashon High School. A larger granite boulder and bronze plaque recognize Robert’s service to his country.

This Veterans Day, take time to visit the six veteran memorials on the island, and recognize the sacrifice these veterans made to ensure our American freedom and democracy.

Bruce Haulman is an Island historian. Terry Donnelly is an Island photographer.