From the left: Cronin Brothers VFW Commander Casey Lore, Burton, Veterans of Foreign Wars District Commander Michelle Ramlow and Cronin Brothers Quarter Master Gilbert Dobbels.

Local Eagle Scout candidate donates special podium to VFW in Lincoln

[January 23, 2019]   LINCOLN - On Friday evening, local Boy Scout Elijah Burton presented the Cronin Brothers VFW in Lincoln with a special Medal of Honor themed podium. Burton is a student at Lincoln Community High school, a member of Lincoln Boy Scout Troop 1102, and the son of Wendy and Joel Rogers.

The podium was created to honor all Medal of Honor recipients in Logan County and is now a focal point in a special area of the VFW Freedom Hall. The VFW is currently working to transform a space in the building as a small, elite military museum.

Burton is working toward his Eagle Scout designation. The podium is the community project that he will submit as part of his eligibility. In order to achieve Eagle Scout, a boy scout must come up with a project and serve as the leader of a team to implement the project. The project must also serve the community in some fashion.

Burton said he got the idea to do the podium from his uncle who attends church with Veterans of Foreign War District Commander, the former Cronin Brothers Commander, Michelle Ramlow. Burton said he was attending a camp and his uncle came to pick him up. On the way home they talked about the VFW and the work the group is doing to create the space honoring all veterans. The idea grew from there to do a podium.

Ramlow wanted a way to recognize Medal of Honor recipients. Research was done to find the Medal of Honor recipients from Logan County. The podium will feature a binder that has the medal recipients in it. The binder will be a work in progress.

Burton then created a plan and assembled a crew to assist him in implementation. His crew consisted of his Scout Master Jason Maxheimer and his two sons, along with Burton’s brother Noah Burton and step-father Joel Rogers.

The podium is done in black and blue to go along with the color scheme of the Memorial Wall. It is dedicated to the first three Medal of Honor recipients including Henry Fox (1862), Richard Longfellow (1899) and Earnest Calvin Williams (1916).

Below the plaque is a blue panel decorated with stars. Burton said that the goal was to replicate the actual Medal of Honor honor thus the stars and the blue. Also at the bottom of the podium is the word “Honor.” Burton said the stars will later contain the names of others who have earned the Medal of Honor.

Cronin Brothers Commander Casey Lore said that he was very proud of the podium as well as the room. Lore is new to his position and said that the Memorial Room had been started before he took his position, but he was proud to be the one that would see it through. He noted that receiving the podium was inspiring and would provide the momentum for the VFW to continue working to make the room something special for all veterans.

“It is a focal point of what we are doing with the room,” said Lore. “As I said it was in the works well before I came, but I am just happy to see it done and proud of the work, it is wonderful.”

For those who are not familiar, in the last few years, the VFW did away with the upstairs bar area and replaced the bar with a wall. The wall separates the public restroom area from the full hall. Ramlow said that other long range goals are to do some remodeling in the restrooms, and also widen the entries into the restrooms to make them more handicap accessible. As work is done on the remodel, the Memorial Room will also get some upgrades.

Ramlow said that the group will be looking for museum quality items to place in the hall. She said the group will be selective about what goes in, but at the same time are interested in talking with people about anything they might want to donate.

She said that the VFW also has items that will be cleaned up and put on display. In addition one glass case has two books on display already. The first book is the Generosity book written and donated by local author Bill Donath. That book details the involvement of the Logan County community during World War I.

The second book is about the liberation of Kuwait. Ramlow explained that the book was donated by the citizens of Kuwait. They wanted to give the books to Dessert Storm victims. The donors asked for nothing more in return than a picture of the recipients accepting the books.

Burton will submit his project to a scout review board. He will create a book that details the work that was done, and the importance of the work to the community. The book will also show how he budgeted for the project, recruited his team and led them to the completion of the project.

[Nila Smith]