During his 23 years of service, Reed City native Russ Nehmer lost 56 of his “brothers in combat” in Afghanistan. Not only that, but Nehmer almost lost his life himself.
After sitting in a hospital bed, one thought began to go through Nehmer’s mind that he’ll never forget.
“I was thinking about back home,” Nehmer said. “If I died, the only veteran’s memorial we have in Reed City is at the courthouse. And it's just a little tiny thing.”
Returning to Reed City after retirement from Army Special Forces in 2016, Nehmer began devising an idea to build a veteran’s memorial park on a paper drawing. He would go on to pitch the idea to his dad, a county commissioner at the time, in which it received a thumbs up.
“You need to take this to city hall and the city council,” Nehmer recollected. “They loved the idea and told me to go forth and try to get funding for it.”
This led Nehmer to brainstor