TODDSVILLE - One man's effort has become an entire community's honor.

Leslie Parshall, a World War II Navy veteran and Toddsville native, erected an Honor Roll on his property on Greenough Road Aug. 4 to commemorate the 41 Toddsville residents who served in the second world war.

"So many wars go on and people take everything for granted," Parshall said. "It's kind of nice to remember the ones that have gone into the service.

The Honor Roll is actually the second one put up in the hamlet. The original one was built by Bill Bliss and stood on the front lawn of the old schoolhouse, said Merritt Harvey, a former Toddsville resident who still resides in the area. It was put up back when the war was going on, but eventually it disappeared.

"Nobody knows what became of it," Harvey said. There was also little record of the original Honor Roll, until Harvey's sister found a photo of it mixed in with some other pictures. Using a magnifying glass, he was able to get all of the names off of it.

"I'd work at it for a while, get dizzy, take a break and then go back to it," said Harvey, himself a veteran of the Korean War.

Using the picture and the names Harvey had recovered, Parshall was able to build a new Honor Roll. He said it took several years and was paid for out of his own pocket.

"I didn't realize it was going to be this much work," he said.

It took Parshall and two other men to lift the monument into place. He said there wasn't a ceremony or anything announcing the Honor Roll's completion, but a fitting tribute took place nonetheless.

"I just stood there and cried," he said.

The names of the veterans who appear on the Honor Roll are Douglas Carey, Robert Carey, Harold Caulkins, Arthur Cleary, James Cleary, Wilson O. Crounse, Gifford Curran, Garrett Devenpeck Jr., William D. Devenpeck, William E. Graham, Donald Gray, William Harvey, Floyd N. Houck, Howard Johnson, Howard P. Jones, Clyde Kroft, Clarence Olds, Douglas Olmstead, George Olmstead Jr., Alfred Page, Leslie Parshall, Bennett Potter Jr., Earl Potter, Harold W. Potter, Ralph Potter, Richard Race, Walter Race Jr., Carlton C. Rogers, Gerald Rogers, John M. Schultz, Frederick G. Short, Andrew J. Skobitz, Caryl B. Smith, Marvin B. Smith, George W. Walrath, William R. Walrath, David Welch, Grace Welch, Kenneth W. Wheeler, Percy Wheeler, Robert S. Wheeler

Only two names appear with stars next to them on the monument, Robert Carey and Richard Race. The stars signify soldiers who died in combat. Parshall said Carey died at Iwo Jima and Race died in the Battle of the Bulge.

"I think the Lord was pretty good for the community as far as that goes," he said.

Parshall said it was actually Race who got him to join the Navy.

"I was on my way to Okinawa when we heard he got killed," he said.

Harvey and Parshall said that of the 41 people on the Honor Roll, only seven are still alive today. Those seven are James Cleary, William Devenpeck, William Graham, Douglas Olmstead, David and Grace Welch, and Parshall himself.

"Every day, some military man passes away," he said. "We wouldn't have the country we've got if we didn't fight for it. I think these guys should have recognition."

Parshall designed the Honor Roll to last, covering the names with a glass plate. He plans to stipulate in his will that whoever owns his property after he passes on will take care of the monument.

"I just hope that some of the guys keep it up," he said with tears in his eyes.