Memorial QR codes help us remember fallen soldiers and vets

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Monuments in civic memorials in Springfield, Ohio may soon feature quick response codes.

Memorial QR codes are becoming increasingly commonplace on gravestones and markers in cemeteries. However, in Springfield, Ohio, they may also find their way to civic memorial monuments.

The goal is to use the quick response codes to ensure that detailed memories will be preserved over time.

Randy Ark, a resident of New Carlisle, is working with Dodds Monuments of Springfield to add memorial QR codes to civic memorials in addition to a larger number of headstones. Ark is a Vietnam vet and has worked hard in the Veterans Park development project located in downtown Springfield.

He has assisted in the raising of the funds for the installation of the memorials. That said, he has also spearheaded the effort to add QR codes to every one of the memorials. This allows smartphone users to scan the barcodes and learn more about what the monuments memorialize.

The memorial QR codes direct scanners to a mobile web link with historical info, photos, and the names of the fallen vets.

memorial qr codes payments app travelIn this way, people visiting and passing the monuments are able to learn a great deal more about what they represent than is possible on a plaque or posted signage. It makes it possible to provide quick response code scanning smartphone users with easy access to far more detailed information, imagery and the potential for multimedia as well.

Ark explained “I control all of the codes from my computer,” pointing out that “I added pictures of all the people in the Purple Heart chapter, and added pictures people gave me, and notes to scan, anything. I also put info for veterans to connect to other veterans.”

Ark’s first exposure to QR codes on memorials was in 2011 through Josh Walters from Dodds Monuments. He explained that he feels the barcodes are a powerful method through which to remember not just the names of heroes but the details of their stories. In this way, Ark hopes to better maintain history.

As monuments have only so much space in which to share information, memorial QR codes can be used to offer a nearly endless amount of real estate for text, image and video content.

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