VARINA — The new Varina Area Veterans Memorial will be dedicated at 10:30 a.m. June 8 in the Pocahontas County community’s park.

The dedication will be part of the city’s quasquicentennial celebration.

The memorial lists more than 270 names of local veterans who served during both war and peace throughout the city’s existence. Ten of those veterans were killed in action.

During World War II, more than 175 Varina area men and women served in the military.

The John and Dorothy Deacon family, formerly of Varina, sponsored the memorial.

“We remembered back in the ’50s that there was a sign near our house that had the names of veterans on it,” Sam Deacon Gaidelis said in a written statement. “Varina has been and always will be home to us, so we wanted to do something for the community.”

The land that is now the city park was donated by the Elizabeth McLaughlin Deacon family in 1970.

The names of the veterans listed on the memorial were gathered by current and former residents of Varina.

“There was no data base to draw from,” Deacon Gaidelis said. “We left plenty of space on the memorial so we could add names as they are made known to us.”