Perryville recognized as ‘City of the Year’ at convention

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The city of Perryville has a strong commitment to military members and veterans. Apparently, someone else has taken notice.
Perryville was named “City of the Year” at the Grande Voiture Du Missouri’s 40 and 8 convention Saturday in Earth City.
“We are excited to be selected for this honor,” Perryville City Administrator Brent Buerck said. “It was never the intention of the city to win an honor like this. It’s ironic that we are recognized for our efforts to recognize the contributions of our veterans.”
The award sets out to recognize a city who puts forth effort to celebrate its veterans and other military members. Buerck pointed out that the organization was impressed with the numerous monuments such as the Missouri National Veterans Memorial, the Wall of Honor in the City Park, and the numerous proclamations and events that are held throughout the year to celebrate the military and veterans.
“The city of Perryville had a very thorough package,” Duane DeClue of American Legion Voiture 1231 said. “They were recognized for being a Purple Heart City, a POW/MIA City, and many other things. Perryville seems to be very military conscious.”
Declue’s group covers a wide area north of Cape Girardeau, south of St. Louis County, East of Rolla, to the Mississippi River. He along with several members helped with the submission process.
“It was quite an honor for us as well,” he said. “We got the pat on the back. The city of Perryville did all the work. They did a tremendous job.”

To Buerck’s knowledge it is the first time that Perryville has received this award.
“It’s bigger than any single person,” Buerck said. “It’s really a reflection of the whole community. It’s much bigger than me. I’m just standing on the shoulders of those who came before me.”
Buerck said that Perryville will continue to celebrate its veterans in the fashion and ways that it does because he feels that they helped shape the country into what it is today.
“Without our veterans the story of America is very different,” he said. “We are able to able to do what we do thanks to the contributions of our military. We appreciate them and try to show our thanks by doing the little things that we do throughout the year to say thanks for what they have given us. The veterans and military means a lot to many people in this community.”
DeClue is very familiar with Perryville and its military effort, partly because before getting his current position he helped raise the funds for MNVM itself. He finds that the monument is a great way to honor the military.
“The thing about it is that it is as close as you can come to having a twin to the wall in Washington D.C as humanly possible,” DeClue said.
Perryville is in the running to be selected for the national convention, which will be determined by the middle of July.
“We believe our veterans are special,” Buerck said. “We never set out to receive an award for our recognition of them. We recognize them because they are special.”