The oldest feature here in Veterans Grove is the WWI memorial.  Placed by the town of Bedford to honor town citizens who died in what was then called, The Great World War.  A memorial Elm was planted in 1919 and a bronze plaque placed in 1920.  The original tree died and was replaced in September of 2017.  A group of citizens called, The League of Pretty Good Guys, helped to install the new elm in 2016.  The bronze plaque lists Bedford veterans who died in the war and includes the only female war casualty in Bedford County’s history. 

Lula Mildred Parsons was actually a Kansas girl who moved to Bedford to live with her Uncle Fred so she could attend Nursing  School in Cumberland, MD…30 minutes south of here.  After graduating, Lula Mildred Parsons joined the Army Nurse corps and was stationed at an embarkation camp in Newport News, Virginia.  While awaiting embarkation to Europe, she died of Spanish Flu. 

While facing the WWI plaque, turn 180 degrees.  Before you stands her Uncle Fred’s house.   Miss Parsons’ bedroom window was on the second floor…just 60 feet from the plaque that now memorializes her name.