ADMIRE — A World War II memorial in front of the former Admire Grade School, which closed last month, was stolen and the town wants it back.
Richard Gould, mayor of Admire, stood in front of the platform that held the memorial Thursday afternoon and spoke about the town’s loss. A police report has been filed on the missing memorial, but no leads have been generated, Gould said.
“I’m sure somebody thought they were getting a piece of grade school history,” he said. “But they didn’t.”
What was stolen around the end of May, was a sundial that was meant to be a memorial for a man who served in World War II and was killed serving his country.
Lt. Robert Lee Clayton, who was born on April 17, 1918, near Allen, died over Germany in World War II.On Feb. 24, 1944, as he was leading a crew in a B-17 bomber over Germany. They were on a mission to bomb the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt, Germany. The plane was shot down as it crossed into Germany from the Netherlands. The mission was a part of what was known as “Big Week” from Feb. 20 to 25, 1944.
According to a document provided by Clayton’s nephew, Earl Lyddane, who lives north of Admire, the mission “was a part of a massive air Allied air offense to destroy the German air power by bombing the airplane factories and other key industries that provided critical supplies to the Luftwaffe. Big Week saw over 3,300 bombers dispatched from England and 500 from Italy. The number of American men killed or missing was over 2,600 with more than 250 planes lost.”
The memorial, including a bronze sundial, was erected in front of Admire Grade School as a tribute to Clayton, Lyddane said. Lyddane said the memorial was in front of the school when he entered the first grade in 1951 (they did not have kindergarten at the time).
“It’s been here and I don’t know why somebody has got to do that,” he said.
Lyddane said the memorial means a lot to the family and the community but also was a piece of the grade school’s history.
“Thousands of kids probably climbed on top of this,” he said, pointing to the platform the sundial was attached to.
Gould agreed.
“This is an important deal to us and we want it back,” he said. “This is a memorial for a veteran — somebody who had the guts to stand up and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Gould said the town would like the memorial back — no questions asked. They just want it back, he said. The materials for the memorial itself aren’t expensive to replace — maybe a couple of hundred dollars, Lyddane said. However, the replacement cost isn’t the point, he said.
“The value of it isn’t great,” he said. “It’s the significance — the person.”
“It’s worth a lot more (than money) to all of us,” Gould said.
Anyone with information on the sundials whereabouts, please call the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at (620) 342-5545.