Korean War Memorial to be dedicated July 27 in Dover

A memorial to Kent Countians lost in the Korean War will be dedicated at 2 p.m., Sunday, July 27, at the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park on South Little Creek Road, Dover.

“That date was chosen because it will be the 61st anniversary of the cease-fire between North and South Korea after three years of conflict,” said Joe Startt Jr., president of Kent County Chapter 859, Vietnam Veterans of America. Chapter 850 will conduct the ceremony. More than 36,500 Americans lost their lives in that conflict.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Daniel E. Coons, a Korean War veteran who served as an Army intelligence analyst. From 1977 through 1987 he served in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary as a command pilot and division commander flying interdiction and search-and-rescue missions.

His more than 3,000 flight hours include FAA ratings in single-engine land, single-engine sea, multi-engine, and multi-engine sea craft.

Coons is nationally known as the founder of the Airway Science Program at Delaware State University. Since its inception in 1987, this undergraduate degree-granting program has trained and placed hundreds of individuals in commercial, corporate, governmental and military aviation careers.

The Kent County Veterans Memorial Park is the home of the Vietnam Memorial and the Gold Star Mother and Families Memorial. "We look forward to welcoming our Korean veterans to the site," said Paul Davis, chapter vice president and president of the state council of the Vietnam Veterans of America.

To order inscribed bricks for the site, visit www.DelawareVVA.com, then click on the Memorial link or call 302-697-8384 for more information.

As always, the public is invited and encouraged to attend.