Veteran Affairs

The Veteran Affairs Office is located on Philadelphia Street, in the Court House located on the 2nd Floor. Director Brenda Stromer and Linda MecKely, coordinator of Indiana County's Veteran Affair, helps facilitate care and services to the families and dependents of veterans. 

The Veteran Affairs office has offered many programs to veterans and active members of the military of decades. Parades, celebrations, and honorary banquets have all been conducted Indiana Borough's Veteran Office. Working in conjunction with Memorial Park, the Veteran Services of Indiana County is perhaps one of the most upstanding programs offered in rural Western Pa.

For more information in regards to activities and outreach programs for veterans and active members within Indiana Borough, click here. 

ATP Enthographic Research

        For our Appalachian Teaching Project, we were asked to pick a specific location within Indiana County, to conduct an digital ethnography of the landscape. Specifically for this project, I was asked to conduct research on Memorial Park and the Veteran Affairs, within Indiana County.  The main purpose of our project aims to "Strengthen Community Assets", in order to shape a positive future for Indiana County, Pennsylvanian.  That being said, it is important to understand the cultural heritage sites within Indiana County; allowing both residents and students of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, to appreciate and respect these sites.

         As an undergraduate studying applied anthropology, we as students are taught how to critical in our methodologies and most importantly, implementing our research and analysis in order to create fundamental changes that can strengthen community ties and understandings. Thus, for this digital ethnography, it was important to understand the role that Memorial Park has within the community.

      Based on research and interview with both students and residents of Indiana County, Memorial Park's is a significant park for the memorization of veteran both within the county and nationwide.  

Memorial Park History

     Memorial Park is one the smallest county parks in Indiana, County.

 

         Dating back to 1773, the spot was once owned by Conrad Rice, who came from Lancaster County, Pa.  He purchased about 260 acres of land from Reverend John Smith on April 1, 1794. Prior to his ownership, Rev. John Smith had acquired the land from proprietors on Dec. 10, 1773. Burials at the park did not start until 1803, two years after the Indian village grounds were destroyed.  In all, there are about twenty-one graves in the park today. Records show that in 1818, Conrad Rice made a proposal of one-dollar for two acres. Part of the land was to be used for the Presbyterian congregation burial. Later, in the 1880’s, the Borough of Indiana issued an ordinance that prohibited burials within the town’s limits.  Some of the burials were removed and placed at Greenwood and Oakland cemeteries. Then in 1923, the Mothers of Democracy were granted permission to erect a soldiers’ memorial in the center of memorial park. The monument was created to commemorate the Soldiers, Marines, nurses, and others of ‘the World War’, now know today as ‘World War I’; the Mexican and Civil War.  The monument's image is of a ‘doughboy', an informal term for a Marine Corp personnel.Interestingly enough, the monument construction committee who approved the now erected statue included Jimmy Stewart’s father, A.M Stewart.

Dough Boy (October, 2013) 

IUP Veterans

The IUP Veterans Organization is in place to serve veterans of every U.S. military branch and any honorary members. This organization consists of veterans and aims to help bring other veterans together, inform veterans of various benefits available to them, and help ease the transition from military life to life on campus. Every veteran-student, or other student interested in veterans’ affairs, is eligible to become an active member of the IUP Veterans Organization. -IUP Veteran Affairs

The dynamic of college campus has been ever changing. More and more non-traditional students are attending colleges nation-wide. At IUP, there are many resource programs and opportunities available to non traditional student especially veterans. In order to understand the role of veterans and active members of the military who attend IUP, I contacted the Veteran Association Club President, Brad August.

      According to Mr. August, there are currently 455 students who have either active or veteran statuses at IUP. The university itself has an active ROTC program which helps non military members of the IUP community, get a taste of military life. Also, IUP host an support group for veterans and active members of the military to help ease the transition from military to student life. For more information about veteran affairs on campus,  here is a link to some organizations and outreach programs available at IUP.
Unfortunately, as I conducted a more in-depth view of veteran involvement on campus, I found that many IUP students were not aware of the importance of veteran affairs on campus. In many ways, I found this to be slightly contradictory to the opinions of the residents within Indiana Borough. A number of residents could list off the many activities that veteran have contributed and actively participated in. Veteran Affairs and veteran issues seemed to be interwoven within the Indiana Borough. But in contrast, many IUP students could not list any contributions that veterans made on campus. Perhaps its the lack of awareness of veteran affairs, or the lack of interest that some of the students have but, I believe that it is essentially important to bridge this divide.  One key question that emerged from this research project was the following: How can we engage students to be more aware and participatory in veteran and military affairs on campus?  A significant and important question to analyze in this ATP project. 

Veteran Museum

The Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana holds a wealth of information. 

From records that detail Native American communities to the recent renovations to downtown Indiana, the historical society has it all. On October 8, I made a visit to the society and decided to visit the Veteran Museum. Here, artifacts and memorabilia portray Indiana County history.  The Memorial to the Veterans includes military displays from past wars. Here, I met the director and coordinator of the museum, Collen. I introduced myself to her, stating the purpose as to why I inquired more information on the park and Colleen was more than happy to show me some archival data and newspaper clippings about the park, which I used the information gathered for the history of Memorial Park. Any additional archival information can be found at Indiana Genealogical Society. I inquired about the museum upstairs and that is where our informal interview took place. Colleen told me about talked about the various artifacts around the room. Colleen pointed to the various military artifacts that the historical society had obtained, many of which were voluntary donations from members of the community.  One such artifact that was given to the society was a black and white photograph that was taken in Okinawa, Japan in 1945. This now laminated photography was featured in TIME magazine in 1945. The picture itself, surprisingly, was taken by a local Indiana County man, serving in WWII.  Along with the many pictorial artifacts, the museum also included relics dating all the way back from the French and Indian War.

 

Memorial Park

One of the smallest parks in Indiana County, Memorial Park is located just near Downtown Indiana. Memorial Park offers to both students and residents alike, a quiet two-acre area filled with historical sites. One of Indiana County's oldest and most historic sites within the borough; its definately a place to visit for both students and residents.