By Ken Stickney

ken.stickney@panews.com

District 2 Commissioner Brent Weaver said he is exploring ways for Jefferson County’s Veterans Park to accept and display a largely forgotten World War I marker that’s now off limits to the public.

“I’ve had several people contact me about it,” Weaver said Friday. “People want to move it there. We’re doing some research now on how to do it.”

The marker came to public light earlier this year when David Williams, a World War II veteran and former commander at the now defunct Hamilton Smith Post 797, Veterans of Foreign Wars in Port Arthur, said the monument had been left behind a Chain-link fence at the former VFW site off Procter Extension.

Williams said the marker used to rest near the seawall downtown, but was moved to the Procter Extension site when the VFW opened a new hall there. Williams said he was on the building committee for the new hall, perhaps in the 1970s, and the decision was made then to move the marker from the seawall to the new hall’s property. He said the VFW had purchased 10 acres of land for the new building, and sold five.

The Hamilton Smith post — it was named for a WWI veteran from Port Arthur who died during the war — was started as a ladies auxiliary in 1928 and closed in 2015. At one time, Williams said, there were about 200 members.

The plaque was dedicated May 30, 1932 at the seawall. The plaque reads, “Dedicated to the memory of all who served in the United States Military, Naval or Marine Forces in the World War and all other campaigns.”

But because the plaque remains behind the fence it is largely away from easy public viewing. Williams said last summer he would like the monument to be returned to the seawall, which is under Drainage District 7 oversight, for greater visibility.

Weaver said he and the commissioners might be agreeable to accepting it on behalf of the Veterans Park, 7626 Gulfway Drive, which fronts Highway 73 near the Veterans Bridge, but cannot do so because they don’t know who has legal custody of the marker and who can formally offer it to the county.

“There is a process,” he said. “You just can’t give the county a monument. It has to go to the commissioners’ court. We have to see what has to be done.”

Weaver, himself a veteran, is the liaison between the Veterans Park and the commissioners. He said he has visited the marker site — the gate was closed, and he couldn’t see the plaque itself, which faces away from the road — and has contacted the state about it.

“As a veteran myself, I want to do everything I can to preserve that legacy and any monument that reflects the service of others,” he said.

There is a ceremony set for 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Veterans’ Park to observe Veterans Day, Weaver said, with a guest speaker and gumbo.

It will mark the 100^th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I on the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month, 1918.