Lack of Confederate monument gave rise to better memorial

Somehow in Batesville we ended up without the statue of a Confederate soldier in our Square and are thus spared the angst now underway in New Orleans and around the south.
I don’t think the absence of a statue evidences a lack in this town of fervor for the Lost Cause that gained traction across the South during the latter 19th Century when most Civil War monuments were erected. It was more than likely a matter of money.
Batesville was less prosperous during that period than those towns where funds were raised to erect the statues. Plus, it was a town in transition, emerging not only from the aftermath of the Civil War but also from the river location where it had begun in the 1830s as the river boat landing town of Panola to the present location around the railroad tracks that had arrived in 1858.
Instead and much later we erected in the Public Square a monument to honor the service members who died in the wars of the 20th Century.
The 40th anniversary of the establishment of that monument by the Batesville Exchange Club provided the backdrop for last week’s Memorial Day program. The event has received much praise for its breadth, scope and organization. (Disclosure: Though I am a member of the Exchange Club, I was not in 1977 when the monument was erected and had very little to do with this year’s program because I was in New Orleans.)
Establishment of the monument in 1977 followed many months of research to compile a list of the names of the men who had died in wars from WWI through Vietnam. If there is a central list of this somewhere, it is still only a starting place. Inevitably, some were missed, but they have been steadily added, including one more unveiled during the May 29 event.
Now we have started adding the names of the service members who have died in the wars of the 21st Century. Sadly, we could gather there again to see other names added, but at least when we do, we will be united in our sympathies and cause and not divided over the Monument itself.