The vision for the Watertown Veterans Memorial started as a coffee time conversation between Laurel Foss, a Korean War Army Veteran, a recipient of the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and a member of the DAV and LeRoy Anderson, a 20 year Navy veteran from the Vietnam era and Commander of the DAV Chapter #6, back as far as 2003. The Memorial's birth began on a beverage napkin and was later enhanced by Laurel's nephew Michael Foss from Arizona, who drafted the initial copy.

Foss and Anderson approached the Park and Rec. Dept., looking for land to build the Memorial. After a couple of rejections the final location became the northwest corner of Stokes-Thomas City Park on the shore of Lake Kampeska. In 2004, Foss returned to Arizona and between he and his nephew, Michael, they drew the first full scale plans for the project with clearer images of what the memorial will look like.

Since that time Anderson and Foss formed a Veterans Memorial Committee, Lynn Johnson representing the VFW, J Maurice Redmond representing the American Legion, Ordean Bierman representing the Marine Corp League and Richard Stricherz a member of the DAV. Through the efforts of the Committee the project is moving forward. The ground breaking ceremony was September 2, 2005 at 2 p.m. at the Stokes-Thomas City Park. Mayor Paul Fox served as Master of Ceremonies.