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A marker on the ground behind the "V". It reads

The Buzz Bomb

This war machine is a German built V-1, commonly known as a "Buzz Bomb." Adolf Hitler unleashed the V-1, precursor of the cruise missile, against London in 1944. It was a new German weapon, literally a "flying bomb."

Officially it was simply FZG-76. The pilotless anti-aircraft designation was a ruse to throw allied spies off track. In Britain, it was known as the "doodlebug." This is one of two "Buzz Bombs" in the United States. The other is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C.

It is intended as a memorial to those who lost their lives in World War II from Putnam county.

At the time this V-1 was emplaced, I'm sure it seemed likely that there were only two V-1s remaining in the United States: J. Frank Durham, who arranged for this V-1 to be transferred to Greencastle, oversaw the destruction of other captured German V-1s and architected an act of Congress in order to transfer the weapon. However, there are several other V-1s on display in the United States (although some of these "V-1s" are actually U.S.-built JB-2 Loons).