SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Some veterans have given themselves a new mission: restore the cannon at Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City. Veterans of the Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force met Friday at the cemetery to brainstorm ways to save the 4-ton artillery piece. The wooden wheels and spindles on the gun carriage are rotting, and some spindles are missing. Rust is found under the peeling paint on the metal.

The Sioux City Journal reports that the U.S. War Department awarded it in 1942 to the Sioux City chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart after the cannon’s World War I service. The chapter no longer exists.  Kie Ahrens is commander of American Legion Nash Post 140 in Kingsley, and he says the cannon is “something to be proud of.”