Westporters have served the country since before its creation. Come Sunday, they will finally have an inclusive memorial.

Westport will unveil its new veterans' monument this Sunday, July 24, at Beech Grove Cemetery. Though there are others in town, those — two at town hall, Latessa Square and one other — are dedicated either to specific branches, or to individual Westporters who lost their lives in war. The new monument, consisting of seven pillars representing each branch of the Armed Services, is the first to recognize all conflicts collectively.

The monument, which will be unveiled in a ceremony planned for noon, has been in the planning and fund-raising stages for 18 months.

"Betty Slade and I had a conversation about 18 months ago," Westport Veterans' Service Officer Carol Frietas said.

"She said,'It would be nice if we had a monument,' and I said, 'Yes it would, absolutely.' It was kind of her idea. She planted the seed."

The ensuing months were spent fund-raising and planning. A total of $26,000 was raised, much of it through small individual donations, and the design was drawn out. Crews from Cairncross Landscaping in Westport recently finished installing the monument's constituent parts, and the inscriptions were done by Albanese Monuments.

Freitas took care to keep details about the entire monument under wraps, and apart from a small computer rendering that has circulated in advertisements, has been seen by only a few.

"I'm really glad it came together," Freitas said. "This has been something we've been working toward for a while."