It has been a decade since West Homestead honored its veterans on Memorial Day or Veterans Day with a ceremony and for Mayor John Dindak it is 10 years too long.
"We [the borough] stopped having a service and now go to Homestead Cemetery or the war memorial in Whitaker.
"It pains me because everyone has their own and we don't have anything," Mr. Dindak said. The mayor is a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War.
"We have an existing memorial on Eighth Avenue across from the old municipal building where we had services every year. Then, between veterans dying, and the traffic on Eighth Avenue from the Waterfront -- which meant we couldn't block the street anymore -- we stopped gathering there," he said.
His solution is to erect a memorial in vacant space beside the new municipal building. He is suggesting either getting a new memorial or relocating the current one to the site.
Two weeks ago, he discussed with council his idea of forming a committee of council members, residents, and veterans to plan for a memorial.
To finance the project, he has applied for a $55,000 grant from the Mainstreet Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) Committee to cover the cost of a memorial, foundation, shrubbery, lights and flowers.
The fund, part of the TIF agreement, sprung from a concern that Eighth Avenue businesses and the three boroughs in which the Waterfront is situated -- Munhall, Homestead, and West Homestead -- would be abandoned in the wake of the large development.
The money paid into the fund by the developers is intended to be distributed equally among the three boroughs, the county, and the Steel Valley School District, Mr. Dindak said.
The committee, including residents from the three boroughs, is scheduled to meet soon for a decision on grant applications.
The borough's current six-foot-high, granite memorial was dedicated shortly after World War I and contains names of veterans of that conflict. The site also displays a military cannon from that era.
Mr. Dindak said because subsequent wars produced so many veterans, the practice of adding names was halted.
In 1990, a new bronze plaque was installed that paid tribute to all veterans of all conflicts.
The municipal building at 456 W. 8th Ave., built in 2001, has enough adjacent space for a monument and for a gathering of veterans and residents for services on holidays, he said.
Mr. Dindak, 80, enlisted in the Navy in 1945 as a seaman first class. He was recalled in 1950 during the Korean War and served on a destroyer escort ship.
He retired as a steelworker in 1986 after 41 years.
Mr. Dindak said if his grant request is denied he will solicit funds from other sources in his quest to fully honor his fellow veterans for their service to their country.
"I don't have the dollars to go with it, but I have grand ideas," he said.
