RURAL VALLEY -- When she talks about her community putting up a Shannock Valley War Memorial, Mary Koma thinks back to the feelings she had when she went on a group bus tour to Washington D.C. to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in the 1980s.

"Besides realizing the multitude of feelings shown there by my husband (Vietnam War veteran Mike Koma) and the Brochettis (John and Liz Brochetti, whose son Frank was killed in the Vietnam War) -- seeing their tears -- an overwhelming feeling came over me of how many mothers lost their sons, wives lost their husbands and children lost their fathers," Mary Koma said.

"I stared at that wall and tried to wrap my head around it, so many names; it felt so heavy," she said. "So many gave their life for us to sit in this country free. You can't forget them."

It was then and there that the Komas knew their town needed a war memorial of its own. It took some years, but the idea eventually took off, and soon the Shannock Valley War Memorial will become a reality.

The first thing they did was start a committee. The Sagamore VFW and Rural Valley American Legion came on as partners in the project.

Fundraising has been going on for more than a year.

The project was expected to take three years to raise the needed $50,000 for the memorial, but the amount was met within a year, organizers said.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in June at the Shannock Valley Recreation Park in Rural Valley behind the Rural Valley Lodge where the memorial will be erected.

The war memorial will consist of a floor created of bricks with engraved names of veterans. The bricks were sold for $100 each, and the veterans are from anywhere and any era.

A sidewalk leading to the memorial is made up of engraved bricks of non-veterans' names, from businesses, individuals or just personal messages, sold for $100 each.

Bricks will continue to be sold throughout the life of the memorial at a cost of $125 each.

The memorial monument is a 6-foot-high wall made of granite. It will be engraved with the names of the 89 Shannock Valley area men and women who lost their lives while in the service of their country from the Civil War through the War on Terror.

The back of the monument is engraved with the names of those whose monetary gifts helped make the project possible.

Three flag poles were donated, and plaques recognizing those givers will be at their bases.

Eleven granite benches were purchased and will be engraved with those givers' names or messages.

The memorial will have 24-hour lighting, landscaping, night vision cameras and a back wall.

Edgewood Landscaping of Rural Valley is the contractor.

A dedication of the memorial will be held on Sunday, Sept. 6.

At 1 p.m. a solemn parade will proceed through town with a wagon with a flag-draped coffin and a horse led by a Civil War re-enactor but no one riding as a symbol of the sacrifice those who died have made for their country.

The dedication ceremony begins at 2 p.m., but people should bring a chair and be seated by 1:45 p.m.

The Rural Valley Lions Club will be providing food in the Rural Valley Lodge on dedication day from noon to 4 p.m.

The dedication will have the Kittanning Firemen's Band, a bagpiper, military dignitaries and soloists.

"Every town has a war memorial," Mary Koma said. "Memorials can turn a painful memory into an honorable memory, which feels a whole lot better."

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