This island between busy roads exists as a memorial to the thirty-five Salem & Roanoke County soldiers & sailors who served, and gave their lives, during World War I.
The field cannon mounted here was used by German soldiers during the war. It was captured by Allied troops, and eventually found its way here to Salem. It was placed originally in front of the old Roanoke County Courthouse (the location of cache #5 in this series) on May 30th, 1926, by Salem's American Legion Post 19. The cannon moved beside this stone monument in 1987, after the former courthouse building was sold to Roanoke College.
In 2014, the cannon was damaged when a hit-and-run driver plowed into it, smashing one of the wooden wheels, bending parts of the metal, and knocking it from its concrete pad. Zach & Mark Thomas, employees of the local machining facility The Pattern Shop, dedicated their time & equipment to reconstructing and refurbishing the cannon. It returned to its present location just before Memorial Day 2014.
The stone monument was built and dedicated in May of 1937. The plaque mounted here -- or one specific word on it -- has been the source of a number of debates in the area. Presumably carved at the same time as the monument was built, it specifically segregates the names of four lost Salem/Roanoke County soldiers under the heading "COLORED."
At least once, a proposal has been brought before the city council to reforge a plaque without this racist split, or at the very least to remove the distinguishing word. The Roanoke Times has written about the issue at least twice. While to some, the plaque seems like a blatant example of lingering racism, others have argued that the word serves as a reminder of how life was in the time it was carved. To date, the latter view has won out. Educational tours of the city have used this plaque as a launching point to discussion into the issue of racism in our past and present.
[Thanks to the research & writings of Norwood Middleton, John D. Long, Matt Chittum, and Dan Casey for historic & current source material.]