Tradition holds that every month New Milford Girl Scouts decorate the Merschrod Bridge to honor the veterans of New Milford, but this month Troop 1507 wanted to do something more permanent. 

Wendy Mackey and the Girl Scouts of Troop 1507 wanted to create a lasting monument to honor the veterans on the Merschrod Bridge that would really catch the eye of people passing by. 

The bridge is named after Lawrence Merschrod, a New Milford resident who was killed in action at Dinh-Tuong in Vietnam on September 27, 1968. The bridge was dedicated to Merschrod on Veterans Day in 1981.

"By honoring certain places of meaning in town, such as this bridge, the girls connect to the history of New Milford and those people whose contributions made the town what it is today," Mackey said. "It's a way of keeping memory alive."

Mackey also acknowledges that the girls could not have completed the mural without the artistic direction of Danielle Petrolia. 

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