A trio of memorial stones serves as the face of Montville’s town government, placed in a semicircle facing Route 32 just in front of the former Town Hall building and down the hill from the current Town Hall.

The three stones are the centerpiece of the annual Memorial Day parade, and recognize veterans from the town who served in World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War and the Korean War.

An imposing plaque on the far left of the three monuments includes five columns of names of people who served in WW II. Under a carved eagle is an inscription reading “Let none forget they gave their all and faltered not when came their call.”

In the middle, a bronze plaque simply lists the names of those who served in WW I, with stars beside the names of those who died.

On the far right, a stone memorial to those who served in Vietnam and Korea sits above carvings of the seals of each branch of the military. The reflective stone monument is a second take of sorts – for a few months in the early 1980’s, the monument featured three major errors that later had to be corrected.

The original monument to Vietnam and Korea veterans was unveiled in 1976. In 1982, the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts organized an effort to rededicate the memorial and add additional inscriptions and the names of five local men who died in Vietnam.

When Memorial Granite Manufacturing Co. of Preston carved the new inscriptions, the word “Vietnam” was spelled incorrectly, as was one of the deceased veteran’s names – Charlie Wisniewski’s name was spelled “Wisiewski,” and Vietnam was spelled “Vietmam.”

The date for the end of the Korean War was also incorrect. The carving listed the last year of the war as 1955, when the war actually ended in 1953.

After some trading of blame for the mistake between Memorial Granite, Tri-County Memorials, which designed the original monument, and the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts, a new face was carved and installed over the typos a few months later, just before Memorial Day in 1983.

The cost of hiring Macrino Memorials to fix the errors was shared between the VFW and American Legion posts.

The mistake would never be obvious to visitors today. The three memorials are outfitted with wreaths, American flags and flowers planted by former Town Council member Ellen Desjardins, who volunteers her time and supplies to keep the site in good shape.

“If you want to honor your veterans, you don’t just honor them on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day,” Desjardins said. “You show that by taking care of where the memorials are.”

Desjardins said people occasionally leave flowers and poems at the site, and the memorials set the stage for local politicians to make public remarks on Memorial Day and other occasions.

m.shanahan@theday.com