Stratford honors veterans and heroes of the First World War with several monuments.
Perhaps the most prominent of Stratford’s World War I monuments is the 1931 War Memorial at the eastern end of the West Broad Street green. The monument, which we first featured in May of 2009, features an allegorical figure representing peace and patriotism created by Kent sculptor Willard Paddock.
The figure is holding the hilt of a broken sword, as well as a shield decorated with a large eagle that she is using to protect a symbolic peace dove.
A short distance to the southeast of the War Memorial, the names of 13 residents who died during their service in World War I are inscribed on a monument within Stratford’s 2005 Walk of Honor.
The Walk of Honor is a collection of veterans memorials installed at the base of the town’s 1889 Civil War Monument on Academy Hill.
The World War I monument features an inscribed image of the War Memorial, and bears a dedication “to the soldiers from Stratford who saved our country during World War I.”
The monument then lists 13 residents who died during their World War I service.
A memorial in Stratford’s Union Cemetery honors three residents who were killed in the war, and for whom the local American Legion post was named.
A bronze plaque on the monument’s north face reads, “In memory of the first three men from Stratford that gave their lives for their country in World War I.”
One of the fallen residents was lost at sea while serving in the Navy, and two were buried in France.
The monument’s south face bears an inscription reading, “Dedicated to the honor of the men and women who served in defense of their country. Let none forget they gave their all and faltered not when came the call.” 1959. Erected by the American Legion Anderson-Dunn-Kochiss Post 42.”
