BELLEFONTE — This summer you may see a few more motorcycle riders cruising into Bellefonte to pay their respects at the Soldiers and Sailors War Memorial in front of the Centre County Courthouse. The memorial is one of seven in the state to be part of the national Tour of Honor campaign that kicked off on April 1.
The Tour of Honor encourages riders to visit the selected memorials and monuments around the country and gives prizes to those who visit all the memorials first in different regions. According to rider preference, $25 from each paid registration will go to Fisher House Foundation, Operation Comfort Warriors or Police and Fire: The Fallen Heroes. All profits after expenses will be divided equally between the three charities.
“The tour of honor is a tour conducted by veterans primarily who contribute registration fees to go on the tour. Twenty percent of those funds go to support non-profits that support veterans,’ said chair of the county planning and policy committee Sue Hannigan. ‘The memorial and monument can be visited at any time and the registrants receive points for visiting. So you know it is a real tribute and we will probably see many people in town at anytime of the day any day of the week taking their photo in front of the Centre County Courthouse and the Soldiers and Sailors War Memorial.”
Hannigan said last year there were 800 participants nationwide in the tour.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial in Bellefonte was chosen by the group. The tour will allow the memorial to showcase its recent facelift as its refurbishment was completed just this past fall.
More than 100 years old, the memorial stands to remind all those who pass by of the sacrifices of the many local men and women who have served in the U.S. military, with its inscription reading, “To those who died to keep the nation whole, this memorial is dedicated in grateful appreciation.”
According to the Bellefonte Historical and Cultural Association, both the Soldiers and Sailors War Memorial and the Andrew Gregg Curtin statue were dedicated in 1906. The memorial was designed by Joseph M. Huston, the same person who designed the Capitol in Harrisburg.
Curtin was born in Bellefonte and was the governor of Pennsylvania during the Civil War. He went on to be a congressman from 1881 to 1887 and also was an ambassador to Russia.
