PHOTO: The Prisoner of War/Missing in Action and American Flags raised Friday by Fort Payne High School JROTC over Patriot's Park. (Tyler Pruett | Southern Torch)

Contributed by Tyler Wilkes, DeKalb County Revenue Commissioner

FORT PAYNE, Ala. — (Scroll Down for Paver Form) On Friday March 9th at 2:00 pm the VFW scheduled a small flag raising ceremony to mark the current progress of the Dekalb County Patriots' Memorial Park. It was a great honor for the Woodmen of the World to donate the flag polls and the flags were provided to us by the VFW.

We appreciate the continued support from our local Woodmen of the World, VFW, and our community. As members of the Dekalb County Patriots' Memorial Park it is with our utmost thanks that we recognize what these groups have done not only for our community but also our country.

This was not the final park dedication, but only a moment to mark the progress we have made so far and an opportunity to allow us to update the public. We would also like to thank the Fort Payne City leadership and workers for partnering with us and actually putting shovels in the ground to complete phase 1.

It’s our hope that by this summer we will have completed the 1st phase of the park and can move on to phase 2. In order to do this we need to raise an additional $120,000 to $150,000 to be able to purchase the granite monuments.

With that being said, we are now turning our attention back to fundraising efforts to reach this goal. Part of that effort is this paver form that you can fill out and mail back to the VFW or the Dekalb County Commission office with an enclosed check to help us reach this goal.

The paver walk will be constructed during phase 1 of this project but the selling of pavers will go on through all phases of construction.

As the DeKalb County Patriots Memorial Park Board we want to thank you for your support in the endeavor to honor our fallen fighters and first responders of DeKalb County.

Thank You and God Bless.

Official Donor Form: