The Mellette County Veteran's Memorial was a project undertaken by the American Legion Otterman Post 94 of White River, SD to create a lasting marker for those men and women of Mellette County who in times of war and peace and especially to those who lost their lives servicing our country. In the years it took to get the project off the ground, the memorial was finally built in 2011 by Morris, Inc of Pierre, SD and the memorial was dedicated on August 11, 2011. Guest speaker for the event was Gerald Goetzinger of Martin, SD. Goetzinger was a past State Department Commander and past National Vice-Commander of the American Legion. Here is the list of the veteran's that did not come back
Lost In Action •James Witt •Silas Kitton •Irvin N. Sherwood •Peter Good Shield •Dennis A. Gilbert •Lester W. Kemp •Clarence V Anderson •Vernon P. Chasing Crow •Marvin L. DeMarshe •Charles E. McBride •James L. Dubray •Andrew J. Paseka •Herbert J. Stoddard •Vincent G. Schwartz •Melvin C Marshall •Harold E. Sanders •Royce R. Weatherlow •Raymond C. Lodge Skin •William A. Vandervoort •Theodore O. Hanson •Calvin Jares •Clifford M. Rickards •Earl Schmidt •Fay R. Richardson •Daniel L. Quick Bear •Richard D. Milton •Clifford L. Leighton •Raymond E. Charging Elk •Donald K. Flaherty •Harold L Koenig •Francis E. Chamberlain
Prisoner Of War •Phillip J Iyotte •Herman P. Vollmer •Orson D. Fallis
Died While in Service •Joseph Otterman •Allan Otterman •Dale Richardson •Emil Eckert •Anna M Dolezal •Guy W. Bruce •Harley E. Ritts •Jacob J. Hofer •Lyman Baker •Fred E. Larson •Jason Gerry •Rufus Black Bonnet
The memorial can be seen on the west side of highway 83 at the north end of White River, SD signified by the large American flag and accompanied by the Army, Navy, POW, Marine, Air Force and Coast Guard flags. The center of the memorial has a picture of the USS Mellette (APA-156) service ship and below it the words "This Memorial is dedicated to those men and women of Mellette County who served our country in times of war and peace and especially to those who lost their lices in that service". The two side panels have the previous stated names listed above. There are also two sections of bricks in front of the memorial of those who serviced and donated torward the memorial.
The memorial flags are flown from Memorial Day to Veteran's Day(weather permitting).