Bronze statue sought for monument by Medina Armory

Rendering courtesy of Company F Memorial Committee – A fund-raising effort has started for a bronze statue of a soldier about 7 feet tall that would be on top of an existing stone base that is 6 feet, 10 inches in height.

MEDINA – In October 2008, a stone monument was dedicated with plaques listing soldiers who trained at the Medina Armory and fought wars on behalf of the United States.

Now, seven years later the Company F Memorial Committee wants to put a finishing touch on the monument: a bronze statue of a soldier with a rifle over his shoulder.

The statue would be almost 7 feet high. That project, plus replacing a vandalized plaque and making name changes and additions on others, would cost about $90,000, said Bill Menz, chairman of committee.

The new fund-raising campaign would also pay for a flag pole about 30 feet high for the American flag. Right now it shares a pole with a Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag.

Menz would like to have the project complete next year.

“This is the history of Orleans County,” said Menz, who led the efforts for the Company F Monument’s first phase. “We’re trying to wake up the historic spirit of the community.”

The Medina Armory opened in 1901 for Company F, which formed in 1891. It trained at a different location prior to the Armory. In 1977, the National Guard left the Medina Armory, a site on Pearl Street. The site has been used as a YMCA for more than three decades.

Courtesy Medina Sandstone Society – Company F prepares to leave Medina Oct. 24, 1940 for training at Fort McClellan and active duty in WWII. Saturday was the 75th anniversary of their departure.

Menz was one of the soldiers to train in the Armory. That was for 18 months when he was in the National Guard in the 1950s. He served on active duty in Greenland. He attained the rank of a corporal E-4.

The monument includes 550 names of local soldiers who fought in wars on behalf of the United States. The soldiers enlisted and trained at the Medina Armory for conflicts from 1898 to 1945 including the Spanish-American War, Mexican-American, World War I and World War II.

In 2006, a group of Medina veterans, their family members and representatives from the Medina Sandstone Society embarked on a project to provide a permanent tribute to the 550 soldiers from Orleans County and the surrounding area who joined Company F.

Photo by Tom Rivers – Bill Menz is pushing to have a statue and another flag pole by the monument next to the Medina Armory.

After two years of planning, fund-raising and building the monument, it was dedicated on Oct. 14, 2008.

The Company F Memorial Committee is working with the Orleans County Joint Veterans Council and Lincoln Post No. 1483 VFW for the additions to the monument, including the statue.

Any donations for the statue can be mailed to Company F Monument, P.O. Box 522, Medina NY, 14103. For more information, click here.