By: Ryan Duey
Photos Courtesy of Wakefield VFW Post 7774
Seeing a need to honor POW/MIA veterans in Kansas, Wakefield VFW Post 7774 members met with area legislators to bring a bill to the House of Representatives to designate portions of Highway 77 near Fort Riley and a bridge crossing over the largest lake in Kansas, Milford Lake, as a POW/MIA Memorial highway and bridge.
After passing through the House and Senate unanimously, House Bill 2263 passed into law on April 9th. On July 1st, 2025, the law will officially go into effect. Post Commander Jon Gran said POW/MIA Chairman Glenn Nelson took on this initiative.
“One of our goals every year with the VFW is the POW/MIA Program. They encourage us to promote awareness, educate the community, and work on things like that.”
“Our POW/MIA Chairman is Glenn Nelson. He is a retired major, and he will research stuff and look stuff up, and he always does a wonderful, wonderful job. The last goal he did was to make Wakefield the third POW/MIA Memorial City in Kansas.”
“With that, we do a declaration every year saying we’re going to promote the POW/MIA Program within the city, fly the flag, and try to do what we can to help the program out. So, the city helps us with that.”
After Nelson completed his goal of making Wakefield a POW/MIA City, he wasn’t sure what to do next.
“After we got that done, Glenn came to me and said, ‘I don’t know what’s next.’ He was kind of on a high from the last project.”
“We researched and looked around and happened to notice that Kansas does not have a POW/MIA highway, or for that matter, also a bridge named for it.”
“So, we just decided that it’s about time, it’s the right thing to do, and so we wanted a highway and bridge named for the POW/MIA Memorial. Glenn then called around, and once he got ahold of Representative Bloom, it was pretty much all it took.”
The next step is to raise funds for six new signs to be placed along the highway and bridge. Gran said they need to raise just under $21,000, which will cover the signs, placement, and upkeep of the signs through the years. Gran said all funds raised will go straight to this initiative.
“Now that the legal process is done, and I will say it was really interesting seeing, back when I was in school, you know, School House Rock’s, ‘I’m Just a Bill.’ We were able to see it go through the process and become law.”
“Now it’s a matter of funding to get the signs made, and then the signs will be put in for everyone to see. It’s normal and policy for Kansas that whenever you do something like this, the organization that starts it coordinates the funding. It’s not something they’re going to turn around and put on the taxpayer.”
“So now it’s time to fundraise. We ask everyone in Kansas who can help, whether it be $5, $10, anything, to help get the signs put in.”
To help the VFW attain the signs to have the portion of highway and bridge formally designated as Kansas’s only POW/MIA Memorial highway and bridge, search Zeffy POW/MIA on your web browser or follow the QR Code below.
More information on this important initiative can be found on the Wakefield, KS VFW Post 7774 Facebook page.
