Growing up with a father in the military, I have never taken our service members for granted. Therefore, finding a geocache at or near a Veteran’s Memorial is special to me. I wanted to create this challenge not only to focus on some of these memorials, but also to bring you to a great memorial site.
The geocache is NOT at the posted coordinates. Due to other geocaches in the area, I had to offset the final location. You MUST meet the qualifications of the challenge AND find the final before logging it online as "Found.” Otherwise, your online log may be deleted. You may log a "note" if you find the final before you qualify and then log it as "Found" once you meet the qualifications. Visit the memorial site and solve the simple puzzle below to get the final coordinates.
The Challenge:
It will be a challenge, but not a particularly difficult one for veteran geocachers. The basics of the challenge are to FIND TWENTY GEOCACHES THAT ARE PLACED AT A VETERAN MEMORIAL OR PLACED IN HONOR AND/OR MEMORY OF A VETERAN. That’s one for each year of my Dad’s service. A Veteran's Memorial includes monuments and/or memorials dedicated or commemorated to veterans or units for their outstanding careers. You may also included caches that are placed in honor of a veteran. You can show proof of this in any way you like. I’d like to see the list with GC#, Title, and Date Found in your log. However, you can include this cache in a shared bookmark list, attach a photo of a list, or any other way you prefer. I have included a bookmarks list of my own with caches I have found that meet these requirements. Feel free to refer to this list for examples.
The rules are pretty simple. Here are some guidelines:
- Each cache should be at or near a veteran’s memorial OR placed in honor/memory of a veteran. "Near" means that the placement of the cache obviously brings attention to the memorial, so it should be within 100 feet of the memorial grounds.
- The title and/or description of the cache should include information pertaining to the location.
- Examples of keywords and phrases found in the title or description may be, but not limited to, hero, veteran, Vietnam, war, battle, not forgotten, some gave, served, memorial, freedom, peace, fort, remember, military, soldier, army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, etc.
- Please only use caches at or near VETERAN memorials. Do not use a cache with “marine” in the title when it’s referring to “aquatics” or “memorial” when it’s in memory of something other than “Veterans.”
- All “found” cache types count, NOT “attended” cache types.
- You may NOT use this cache as one of the twenty.
- Previous finds DO count.
- Please DO NOT use more than one cache from a series.
- Check here for general “Challenge” information.
The Final:
At the posted coordinates you will find a brick wall with “Wayne County Veterans Memorial” on the front. On the back of this wall is a cornerstone that was in the Wayne County Memorial Community Building previously located on this site. The last two digits of the year of this cornerstone are XX. The final is a short walk from the memorial site. The actual find is a 1.5/1.5, but is rated higher for the "challenge" requirements. Muggle activity will be light during the weekend, but could be busy at times on weekdays.
The final cache coordinates are:
N 35 22.8YY W 077 59.5ZZ
YY = XX + 41
ZZ = XX + 63
The Memorial:
The Wayne County Memorial Community Building was dedicated on this site on June 26, 1925 to honor those who died in World War I. It later served to honor those who lost their lives in subsequent wars. The building was lost to fire in May, 2004. This memorial site was rededicated on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2011.
While you are in the area, you should check out the Whereigo cache nearby - “Downtown Goldsboro Tour”.
“FREEDOM IS NEVER FREE” – Unknown