ANDOVER — U.S. Air Force veteran Steve Hall received support from selectmen Tuesday in his effort to update names on two of the town’s four veterans memorials on the Town Common.

The board named him a contact person for information on the project and authorized a letter he wrote on its behalf to the Maine State Archives asking for names and dates of military service people from Andover.

The letter to archivist Kate McBrien said the large stone memorials pay tribute to men and women of Andover for their service to the country in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War.

Hall, who lives in Andover and served in the military from 1959 to 1963, has been researching information for nine years and because many of the veterans or their family members have died, information is very difficult to get, he said.

Specifically, he is seeking to make changes to the town’s combined World War II and Korean War plaques, as well as the Vietnam Memorial plaque.

In November 2023, President Biden signed the Korean American Vietnam Allies Long Overdue for Relief (VALOR) Act, allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand eligibility for medical benefits to certain military personnel who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Because of the change, Hall said, the town may add the names of several veterans to the memorials. He said he is “determined to make it right — whatever I do.”

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