As Memorial Day approaches, this year on May 26, people are once again planning to congregate at the monument located at Main Street at Hanover and Schoolhouse Hill roads, for a weekend observance on Saturday, May 24.

Town flags will be set to half mast from sunrise until noon (and not sunset, like most other days).

Currently, fliers and other promotional materials are going about to inform the public of a Memorial Day weekend observance, at 5 pm Saturday, May 24. The flier gives the location as the “Soldiers and Sailors Monument.”

It should be noted that while “Soldiers and Sailors Monument” has gained some level of common usage, the proper name of the monument located at Main Street at Hanover and Schoolhouse Hill Roads is the “Liberty and Peace Monument.” The monument’s name has never officially or in any other capacity been changed, and when The Newtown Bee references it, it is always referenced as the Liberty and Peace Monument.

As stated in a May 15, 1931, Newtown Bee article, to give Newtown a memorial “symbolic not only of the three great victories of the American people, but representative, as well, of the nobler things of the spirit — it was not the actual conflict that it desires to commemorate, but rather the spirit and idealism that prompted the sacrifice of thousands of youthful lives for honor and principle.”

A 2011 Newtown Bee article states, “the memorial was the last of the gifts benefactress Mary Hawley bestowed on Newtown through the generosity of her will, according to town historian Dan Cruson. Ms Hawley, who died in 1930, decreed in her will that along with a public library built to honor her grandfather Cyrenius H. Booth, a war memorial should be erected on the triangular piece of property she had purchased, formerly occupied by the North Center District School at Hanover Road and Main Street (then called Newtown Street or The Street).

“Designed by Frank L. Naylor, a noted New York memorial designer, the 30-foot-tall granite statue was executed by McGovern Granite Company of Hartford. It is on his blueprints that the official title of the monument is to be found. Two original bronze plaques embedded in slabs of granite at the base of the monument include the names of local veterans of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and World War I.”

Another Bee article from May 1931 earlier emphasized that the monument is “to commemorate three periods in the history of our development when force of arms inspired by the spirit of righteousness and lofty ideals brought our country into being; protected it through civil strife; and raised it to the position of Champion of World Democracy and Guardian of Peace. This triple dedication inspires the Trinity as the symbolic translation of ideals to material granite.

“Above each of the three columns is affixed a star of triple significance, Religion, Statehood, and Hope for future,” read the May 8, 1931, Newtown Bee article. Carved doves, alternating with the star, signify lasting peace and happiness, and even in the Goddess of Liberty are found three ideals, explained the article: Truth, Purity, and Beauty. “The Goddess embraces the flag and palms of victory while in her hand she displaces the shattered manacles of tyranny and slavery,” the article goes on to explain the designer’s symbolism.

When online, googling “Soldiers and Sailors Monument” gets a monument in New Haven, even when including “Newtown CT” in the search.

The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History calls it simply, “War Memorial Monument,” which may serve as a barely adequate description of the monument but surely is not its name.

Former Town Historian Ben Cruson put some efforts into raising awareness of the monument’s proper name of Liberty and Peace Monument, though clearly many in town are going to determinedly stick to their own preferences.

While many in town may never be disabused of the notion of referring to the monument as the “Soldiers and Sailors Monument,” one hopes that this reflection will at least help the two camps get on the same page in knowing they are all referring to the same beautiful monument.