WWII Honor Roll Board, 1945

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Chandler honored its World War II military veterans by listing all of their names on a large billboard in Chandler’s downtown park

As the U.S. sent troops to the foreign battlefields of World War II, Chandler residents, along with the American Legion, created a physical reminder of Chandler’s men and women serving the country. They chose to construct a large billboard that listed individuals from Chandler, Goodyear (now Ocotillo), Higley, Queen Creek, and Chandler Heights.

With money raised from the community, the American Legion hired Pedro Guerrero, a Mesa sign designer, to create the Chandler District Honor Roll. In only ten days, Guerrero and others built a monumental wooden sign 16 feet high and 30 feet wide, which stood in the southeast section of this park.

On the day of the dedication, May 30, 1943, the local Chandler Arizonan newspaper wrote, “For those whose names will appear on the Roll of Honor, it will carry the assurance that the community will continue its support of the war effort—and their names will be proof that their home town will not forget them—ever.”   That day there were 330 names on the board.  By the end of the war there were over 700.

After the war, veterans requested a permanent memorial to replace the Honor Roll board. On Memorial Day in 1949, the American Legion dedicated a stone monument with a bronze plaque reading, “Dedicated to those of the Chandler Community who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States so that peace, freedom and justice might not perish from the earth. Today that memorial is located on the east side of A.J. Chandler Park.