05/25/2026
The highlight of Pullman’s 1950 Memorial Day observances was the dedication of a new obelisk-shaped monument honoring local men who lost their lives in both World Wars. The monument stands just east of the old National Guard Armory on Main Street. John R. Anderson, a member of the Historic Preservation Commission, prepared the nomination for listing the monument on the Pullman Register of Historic Places in 2013.
Accounts in the Pullman Herald indicate the monument was envisioned by the Pullman Memorial Committee and designed and constructed by Bob Nielson with additional volunteer labor from local service groups. WWII veterans Asa Clark, Jr., of the American Legion and Kenneth Hall of the VFW led the community’s planning efforts.
A bronze plaque bearing 39 names of Pullman’s war dead from World Wars I and II was unveiled at the dedication ceremony on May 30, 1950. Shortly after the dedication, Sgt. Donald C. Broemeling went missing in action in South Korea on August 23, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953, and his name was added to the memorial in 1955. On Veterans Day in 1983, the names of four men who died in Vietnam in the late 1960s were also added.
Pullman’s Historic Preservation Commission discussed the monument’s future several times between June 2012 and May 2013. The adjacent Brelsford WSU Visitor Center was then under design, and the City’s Parks Department was considering relocating the monument to the cemetery and updating the plaques with additional names from subsequent conflicts. Instead, the local Maynard-Price Post 52 of the American Legion worked with the City to develop the 2.81-acre Veterans Park and Memorial Plaza with parking, seating, a kiosk, a restroom, and other amenities. The original war memorial remains in downtown Pullman as a lasting tribute to those killed in service.
