It started with a Sherman tank. After all, if you’re going to commemorate the men and women from your village who served their country and then schedule that memorial’s opening around America’s 250th anniversary, why not dream big?

Though the tank idea didn’t happen, it also isn’t necessarily off the table. For now, though, the Belle Center Veterans Memorial has been established at 615 N. Center St. with a ribbon cutting ceremony at noon on Wednesday, July 8. The project was spearheaded by residents Pamela Gillen and Anita Legge.

And yes, Legge admits it started with the dream of parking a Sherman tank on the property.

“It got going for the 250th memorial for the veterans of our township,” she said, “but we had to pull back because we’re a small community.”

They ended up with a monument created by Kenton Marble and Granite, a wall listing the township’s service members and a large banner with the words “All gave some, some gave all” over the entrance to the Richland Township office and American Legion Post 266 in Belle Center.

Jon Watkins with The Sign Shop provided the signs and donated the installation.

Each wall is 16 feet by 12 feet, with a total of 531 names. And that banner above the door is five by 20.

The main portion of the ceremony was held inside the air-conditioned building before heading outside for the ribbon cutting.

“We started this probably in September when we were throwing around some ideas for what we wanted to do for the 250th anniversary of America,” Gillen told the group of about three dozen people in attendance. “We wanted something special.”

This led to months of planning and fundraising with T-shirt sales, a gun raffle, poker runs and gift baskets. And the community stepped up, helping with their time and skills or with cash. In fact, Gillen added, “Everything we sold, they bought.”

Jamison Thornton, Logan County Visitor’s Bureau director, provided information about the funding for the memorial. It all started when the memorial committee applied for a $2,500 matching tourism grant.

As the bureau council sifted through their pile of grant requests, Belle Center’s made an impression.

“This one jumped out as being really well-organized and really well-funded already. The community support was incredible. That made it really easy to say yes.”

Thornton stated he has veterans in his family as well, adding, “This touches everyone.”