Advertisement World War II veteran commissions monument Monument in Boscawen honors Marine Raiders Share Shares Copy Link Copy

A new monument recently went in at the State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen honoring America’s first special operations military force, the Marine Raiders.One of the last surviving Raiders lives in New Hampshire and spearheaded the effort to build the monument.Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, fewer than 1 million are still alive.“There’s not many Raiders left, let me put it that way,” Harold Sheffield said.Sheffield, 95, was a member of the Marine Raiders.“Right after Pearl Harbor, the president (Franklin Delano Roosevelt) and (British Prime Minister Winston) Churchill had gotten together, and Churchill said this country needed something like their commandos,” Sheffield said.Sheffield’s job was to get behind enemy lines.“Well it was different, yes,” he said. “It was hairy at times, believe me, and I was a scout and a sniper, so I had my share.”Sheffield wrote a book about his service, but about one year ago he decided to create something a bit more permanent.“I wanted some honor for the Raiders because we lost a lot of men,” he said.Fundraising on his own, along with donations from family and the U.S Marine Raider Association, he commissioned the monument.“It means a lot to me because you're apt to forget things, we all do. The kids in school, you ask them who we were fighting in World War II, some of them don't even know who the enemy was,” Sheffield said.Now children from Boscawen or visitors to the area can learn something about what Sheffield and the Raiders did to save the world 70 years ago.“It’s my swan song,” Sheffield said. “That’s the way I look at it.”He hopes to hold a dedication ceremony for the monument in the spring.