For many years, Casco residents have wanted a war memorial to honor their town’s many brave soldiers. On Saturday, Sept. 22, years of anticipation will come to a glorious end in the form of an unveiling ceremony for a new memorial listing the names of every Casco resident that has served in the U.S. military during wartime.

The ceremony starts at 1:30 p.m. and all are invited to attend. The stone war memorial is the first of its kind in Casco. Years ago, before weather wore it away, Casco had a wooden memorial for World War II soldiers affixed to the exterior of the town hall. Listing each name, the new memorial will honor more than 500 soldiers who served in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War I and II.

“It’s going to be beautiful,” said Elinor Mains, chair of the memorial fundraising committee. “It’ll be covered up until the dedication ceremony and then unveiled during the ceremony.”

All of Casco helped pay for the monument, which was built by Collette Monuments of Lewiston. What couldn’t be raised by private donations, was picked up by the taxpayers, Mains said. Fundraising literature was sent to all the residents, with many sending back donations. Several out-of-staters also contributed to the fund. Even the fire department got involved in the fundraising effort. In all, $22,000 was raised starting at the beginning of this year.

The ceremony on Saturday will feature much fanfare. Sen. Bill Diamond, Rep. Rich Cebra, as well as local ministers and American Legion officials, are expected to speak. Singers will perform an Armed Forces medley of songs and the National Anthem. Sue Mack, of Pownal, will play the bagpipes with local Boy Scouts hoisting the American flag up a new 25-foot flagpole beside the new memorial.

Mains, who led the charge for the memorial, said she is “really proud” of the memorial, which is solid black granite and features full-color etchings, and the efforts of everyone involved and “honored to be able to do something to honor all the veterans.” Others serving on the fundraising committee included Gilbert Avery, Lucille Griffin, Forest Nutting, Eva Nutting, Clarence Hunt, Irene and Carroll Morton, and Wayne Ward.

Many of the soldiers listed on the memorial are still alive and will be in the audience on Saturday. One special veteran, Delvin Merrill, is the only prisoner of war on the list. He will attend Saturday’s event and possibly speak as well.

Merrill, 75, originally of Casco, served as an Army Airborne Ranger in the 92nd Airborne during the Korean War. He would fly over the front lines and jump out of airplanes delivering ammunition, rifles, food and other supplies to American troops. He made about 190 jumps, but the last one landed him in a North Korean POW camp for three years, an experience he feels fortunate to have survived.

“We were dropping supplies and landed behind enemy lines. The front had shifted between when we took off and jumped. We got stuck behind the line, and by the end of the day myself and 18 other guys were captured,” Merrill said.

Once captured, Merrill and his fellow paratroopers were forced to march 21 straight days to a part of North Korea near the Manchurian border. The men hiked day and night only stopping to eat or drink and sleep for short stints.

For three long years, the North Koreas tried to brainwash Merrill and his fellow troops with communist propaganda and prostitutes who stood beyond their enclosure taunting the young soldiers to escape.

“There were women outside the fence, prostitutes. They wanted us to sneak out. But if we did, (the North Koreans) would have put us down the hole or shot us,” Merrill said. “The mental torture was the worst.”

Merrill enlisted the second day of the war in September 1948. He survived the prisoner camp and was released immediately after the cease-fire agreement was signed in 1953.

“The day we got released, we got loaded on a train. They didn’t tell us anything, so I just thought we were on our way to another camp. But the next morning they released us and we were on a boat to California,” Merrill said.

Merrill returned to Casco after the war and moved to Naples 38 years ago. He worked with his father as a logger in the Allagash region and then spent almost 40 years as a welder at Dielectric Communications in Raymond.

He, like many veterans with Casco ties, is excited to see the new memorial.

“Oh yes, I’ve waited a long time to see something like this. It’ll be good to see it,” Merrill said.