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 13. Ellis County Memorial
Ellis County Court House - 13th & Fort
Hays, KS 67601
Hours: Sunrise to sunset
Admission: Free
This memorial at 13th & Fort honors the soldiers from Ellis County who gave their lives while serving our country. The veterans of Ellis County hold their annual Memorial Day Services at this location at 10 am and the American Legion Memorial Day Ceremony is held at 7 pm at the Veterans Memorial Park – 13th & Canterbury.
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 19. Fort Hays State University Walking Tour
600 Park
Hays, KS 67601
785-628-4206
Hours: Sunrise to sunset
Admission: Free
 Several markers on the campus of Fort Hays State University pay tribute to the Vietnam War, W.W. II and the Kent State/Jackson State tragedy. Click here for a map showing the location of the various sculptures including the War Memorial located near Picken Hall.
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 38. Kansas Merci Boxcar & Veterans Memorial Park
13th & Canterbury
Hays, KS 67601
785-625-3813
Hours: Guided tours available by appointment.
Admission: Free – donations accepted
 The Veterans Memorial Park was started in 1993 in preparation of the Moving Wall display. The park features many trees, flowers, park benches and a circle of flagpoles. Over the years, additional memorial items were added to the park including a miniature replica of the Washington monument and a Korea-Vietnam M-60 A1 Tank. Guided tours available.
What is the Forty Et Eight?
La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux, an independent fraternal organization of Veterans, popularly known as the FORTY ET EIGHT, was organized in 1920 as the fun and honor society of American Legionnaires. Now composed of Veterans of both World Wars, the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, it draws its origin from WW I when young Americans were sent to France to fight a war to end all wars. The narrow gauge railroads of France had boxcars (Voitures) that carried little more than half the capacity of American boxcars and these voitures were used to transport the men and horses to and from the fighting fronts. The capacity of each boxcar was stenciled on the side. Holding either forty men or eight horses these voitures became the trademark of the organization.
 In February 1949, a merchant ship docked at Weehawhen, New Jersey to deliver its cargo of 49 railroad boxcars that were marked on the side "TRAIN DE LA RECONNAISSANCE FRANCAISE", and on the other side "GRATITUDE TRAIN". These boxcars were laden with gifts from the French people in gratitude and appreciation to the United States for the "Friendship Train" which the French people received from the United States on December 18, 1947. The "Friendship Train" which was loaded with carloads of food, medicine and supplies was sent to France to help the people recover after WWII. The "GRATITUDE TRAIN" boxcars were marked with French letters "Hommes 40 (40 Men) and CHEVAUX 8 (8 Horses) indicating the freight load of the boxcar.
The "GRATITUDE TRAIN" consisted of forty-nine boxcars, one for each for the forty-eight states, and one for the District of Columbia to be shared with the district of Hawaii. Each car contained gifts, artwork, and treasured items from the people of France. The Kansas boxcar first arrived in Topeka in June 1949 and visited 120 communities before its last stop in Hays on November 11, 1949. A huge community celebration, parade and acceptance ceremony was held in Hays on that Veterans Day.
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 55. Walker Air Base Display
Forsyth Library
Fort Hays State University
600 Park Street
Hays, KS 67601
785-628-4431
Hours: Monday - Thursday 7:30 a.m. - Midnight
Friday 7:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Sunday 1 p.m. - Midnight
Admission: Free
http://www.fhsu.edu/forsyth_lib/secondfloor.shtml
The model of the Walker Army Airfield that is on display at the Forsyth Library was completed in October 2000 by Fort Hays State University student Steve Arthur. The Walker Army Airfield was located in Ellis County, about 2 and 1/2 miles northwest of Walker. At one time, there were 25,000 people based at the airfield. Land was purchased by the government from individual owners and additional areas were leased from the Union Pacific Railroad for the location of storage yards. In planning the field, the water supply was a particularly difficult problem. Principally because this site was judged by the state's geologist to have the most difficult water situation of any spot in the state. A proven supply was made available from the Hays city system located 12 miles away.
 Walker Army Airfield began operation simply as a satellite field of Smoky Hill Army Air Field located in Salina. In this capacity, Walker was used merely as a spill over field in the performance of Smoky Hills' mission of processing heavy bombardment crews for over seas shipment. A more important and more independent mission was given to Walker in February of 1943 when the 2nd Air Force organized the heavy bombardment processing headquarters there.
The Walker Army Airfield was kind of a final staging area after crews had been assembled. The men came to the Walker Airfield to learn to work together for the bombing runs and practice gunning. The base has been officially closed since January 31, 1946. For more information about the Walker Army Airfield and the B-29 in Kansas, click here http://www.pbs.org/shptv/b29/
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90. Hays Veterans of Foreign Wars Post
