Veterans memorial sits in village park All Wars Memorial & Service Roll
Maple Rapids Park
Maple Rapids, Clinton
Maple Rapids is a small town, first established as a trading post around 1826 by George Campau. Ironically, the original indian village here was one of the largest in the entire state when Campau arrived, with about 300 natives encamped along the banks of two small rivers. Within 25 years all of the natives had been moved from their ancestral lands to reservations. Another, much newer, memorial honors the first native residents and the pioneer families that displaced them.
This marker is the anchor point of a small park. This is one of the few veterans memorials that specifically mention the sacrifice of time by the veteran. Most citizens usually don't think of military service in this way, but it's true that aside from life itself, time is our most precious possession. Time lost to service can't ever be reclaimed or redeemed. The weeks, months, or even years that service takes from us may be a great adventure; but for those that never intended the military as a career, it is an unexpected interruption that alters our future in endless indeterminate ways.
The memorial does not indicate the era(s) of service for these citizens, but it is likely those listed are all from World War II.
