The Lehighton United Veterans Organization donated $500 recently toward a War at Home Memorial Monument erected in honor of Mike Wargo Jr.

Wargo's parents, Mike Sr. and Sarah, accepted the donation and a special UVO challenge coin.According to Kevin "Spike" Long, UVO commander, the statue will be delivered to Butch Zacharias in Effort for welding on April 21.Wargo was a 1994 graduate of Lehighton Area High School who was on the National Honor Society.After 9/11, he joined the United States Army, where he spent 10 months in Afghanistan as a chemical weapons specialist in the U.S. Army.He returned home in 2005 and suffered with post-traumatic stress disorder for eight years, before eventually taking his life on May 20, 2013.The statue will be on display in Harrisburg starting May 23 in front of the capitol building.On June 17, it will be unveiled at a memorial ceremony at Lehighton Veterans Memorial Park.