Orleans Veterans Panel Votes to Require Single Contractor for Vietnam Memorial

ORLEANS — March 31, 2026 — Orleans Veterans Memorial Park Committee votes to require a general contractor for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and separates the Indigenous marker dedication from Memorial Day. The committee, comprising Chair Kevin Higgins, Andrew DeLore, and John Fuller — with 501(c)3 representative Brian Sosner participating by Zoom — voted unanimously at its March 31 meeting that any vendor fabricating the planned Vietnam Veterans Memorial must serve as sole general contractor responsible for engraving and installation, a standard that vendor Site One Cape Stone may not currently meet. The panel also voted unanimously to confirm the southeast corner of the park at Main Street and Academy Place as the location for a four-foot-diameter Indigenous peoples granite marker, expected to be installed by Tom Crosby and Sons the week of April 6, with a formal dedication set for Indigenous Peoples Day, October 12, 2026, rather than Memorial Day. A separate unanimous vote approved the conceptual bronze plaque design for the Korean War Memorial, featuring Marines at the Chosin Reservoir as the focal image, to be refined by Crosby after U.S. Postal Service clearance of a stamp image. The committee also grappled with approximately 30 names on existing Vietnam and Korea plaques that lack DD-214 discharge records, agreeing to individually research the list before the April 28 meeting; the verified roster now stands at 141 Vietnam-era and 93 Korean War veterans from Orleans.