RICHMOND, Cache County — Some Coast Guard representatives are upset that their branch of the service was left off the new "Freedom is not Free" monument.
The five-sided monument includes five pedestals, with busts, for Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Women's Auxiliary.
"I'm sure that the folks that supported the memorial had good intentions, but they obviously overlooked a key part of memorializing America's history; that is researching history," Lt. Jason D. Arnold, office of computer systems, U.S. Coast Guard, said in a letter to the Ogden Standard-Examiner. "As a member of America's smallest armed service, I often see my service omitted."
Other letter writers said the Richmond monument committee should have understood that the five branches of the military are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
Committee members said they've received nothing but praise from within their community of 2,000.
Their design was the result of visiting other military monuments in the area, they said.
"Over in Tremonton, they just built one statue of a soldier," said Garr Christensen, a member of the Richmond committee and a World War II veteran. "When we were there, there was Navy guys over there grumbling there wasn't a sailor."
"We figured that the Coast Guard was part of the Navy," said Gail Alvey, a member of the monument committee and a Korean War veteran.
Committee member Ludeen Waterson said it's usually the women who get left out. She thought the decision to include the women's auxiliary was appropriate.
Committee member Dell Tripp said the Coast Guard as well as the Merchant Marines came under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation, not the Department of Defense.
"There are no busts of the Coast Guard at any military cemetery in the United States," he said.