“Honoring those who gave their time and some even their lives to protect our Country,” the Colonel Leo Sidney Boston War Memorial Park pays tribute to the thousands of veterans from in and around Fremont County that served their country during times of war; some from as far back as the Colonial Army of the American Revolution.
The park, located at the Freemont County Airport, just off of US-50 east of Cañon City in Colorado, hosts a wall of nearly 2000 bricks engraved with the names of these service men and women, with more added regularly. Additionally, the park contains a growing display of select pieces of military equipment primarily from the Vietnam Era. It includes a F-4 Phantom II, an AH-1F “Cobra” Helicopter, a UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” Helicopter, an M113 “Green Dragon” Armored Personnel Carrier, as well as a World War II era 105 mm M101A1 Howitzer.
One of the more interesting displays within the park is the Penny Project. A local initiative assembled thousands of pennies from the Vietnam era, laminated onto lettering approximately a meter tall. The simple statement reflects that found on pennies, “In God We Trust.” Punctuated with what appears to be local red granite, the final T in Trust hosts its own inscription stating, “You’ve never lived until you’ve almost died. For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected will never know.”
Dedicated on Memorial Day in 1997, the park is mostly the result of local efforts, and pays special tribute to a Vietnam era pilot through its naming.
Leo Boston led a search and rescue mission in April 1966 when contact was lost near the Black River in Son La Province in North Vietnam. He was listed “Missing in Action,” and ironically promoted to Colonel some time later. In 1978, his status changed to “Presumed Dead,” and his remains only recently identified and returned for interment in 2011 at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Further Reading …
