ADAMS TWP — Hundreds of people turned out Sunday for the dedication of the new Adams Township War Memorial, which was unveiled at the Community Park.

Everyone from toddlers in strollers to World War II veterans came to show their respect for the 147 soldiers and sailors from the southern part of the Butler County who will remain in memory on the black granite monument where their names are engraved.

The veterans on the monument were killed in action, missing in action or died as a prisoner during each war fought by the United States since the Civil War.

A small podium in front of the monument lists the six branches of the U.S. military in which the soldiers and sailors served, and a stone bench engraved with each conflict since the Civil war surrounds the monument.

Adams resident Ken Carlson, one of two keynote speakers, drove home the point of the monument.

“I hope this will be a place where people will stop, and maybe they’ll tell their children, ‘For the love of country, these people accepted death,’” Carlson said.

He also praised township residents Paul Ford and his wife, Mary Jane, who designed the monument and organized its construction.

“Paul and Mary Jane probably don’t realize how much they’ve done to help us remember (those on the monument,)” Carlson said. “This looks like something that would be down on the three rivers.”

The event’s other speaker was Ford’s nephew, Scott Ford, who has deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan four times and now is a judge advocate for the Army Reserves.

Ford praised his uncle for instituting the memorial and seeing it through, but he asked the crowd to remember that Paul Ford also ran dozens of combat convoys during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam.

“For me, this is the most important memorial I could ever be a part of,” the younger Ford said.