The Batesville Exchange Club is in its final canvas of the county to learn the names of service people who died in the wars of the 20th Century and who are currently not etched into the downtown war memorial monument.

Those names will soon be placed appropriately under the wars in which they died. So far, the club has learned of one more from World War II, three from the Vietnam War.

On the other side of the smooth, granite structure will begin the names of service people who have died in the wars of this century. When two men were killed in Iraq during 2005, club members reasoned that they would wait until the end of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and list all who had died. We then naively hoped that there would only be those two names and that we would soon see those wars’ end.

Now it’s been too long. We have been chagrined at recent gatherings near the monument when family members have politely asked, “When?”

The answer is that the project is now underway to add the names of the servicemen who have died in the wars of this century. Those names will be added under an appropriate heading on the Panola Avenue side of the monument. The flagpole will be relocated to allow an unobstructed view of the new names from this century.

Meanwhile, if you know of any names not currently listed of service members who died in the wars of the 20th Century, please contact John Howell, 662-563-4591; publisher@panolian.com.

And we will continue to hope, albeit naively, that there will be no more names to add to the monument’s 21st Century side.