One important feature is missing from the Veterans Honor Roll in City Park with Veterans Day Saturday.

The eight Veterans Honor Roll statues, along with the Platteville Fire Department Memorial statue, were removed Friday. 

They are in climate-controlled storage while the Veterans Honor Roll committee determines how to repair — and how to fund the repair of — water and vandalism damage the statues have experienced in 11 years of Wisconsin weather.

The Veterans Honor Roll — eight statues representing Americans in the Armed Services since the Revolutionary War — was created as an extension of the Vietnam Moving Wall visit in July 2009. The Veterans Honor Roll was dedicated on Independence Day 2012.

The eight fiberglass statues were created by David Oswald of Sparta. In the 11 years since their installation they have suffered damage from weather and from the City Park trees, water damage from cracks, and vandalism by pellet guns and sharp objects.

Veterans Honor Roll president Larry Jenny said repairing the statues without removing them would have required “a week of 50-degree days 24/7. We ran out of good days.”

The Veterans Honor Roll Committee has yet to choose a contractor to repair the statues, the cost of which is estimated at tens of thousands of dollars. 

The repair process is estimated to take two months once the statues are dried out. Jenny said if repairs can start by late March, the statues can be returned by next Memorial Day weekend.

The PFD Memorial Statue, which Oswald also designed, was dedicated on Independence Day 2014. The memorial includes the names of firefighters Austin Hale, Charles Gilmore and Len Vanderbie, who died in the Forehand Block fire in 1919.

The only part of the Veterans Honor Roll that remains in City Park is the obelisk that lists American armed conflicts. The bell that originally signaled fire calls also remains at the PFD Memorial, but the statue is in storage with the Veterans Honor Roll statues.