When weather or other forces threaten the Veterans’ Memorial in Wheeler Park, one man sees it as his job to answer the call — even at the age of 82.

Nathan Bruttell/News-Herald Photo Stonemason and Lake Havasu City resident Ernst Prohaska makes repairs to the Veterans’ Memorial in Wheeler Park. Prohaska, 82, built the monument by hand in 1983 and said he is always eager to make the repairs himself.

Stonemason and craftsman Ernst Prohaska built the memorial by hand in 1983. Nearly 27 years later, Prohaska still sees it as his personal responsibility. The monument represents American military veterans and to Prohaska, an Austrian immigrant who moved to Lake Havasu City in 1979, the monument is the center of the city and represents fortitude.

“I know what this means to veterans and I want it to be 100 percent,” he said. “Because when I do something … I do it all 100 percent. I am a veteran and I know how important it is not to forget.”

Prohaska served in the German army as a teenager, in 1942. A few years later, Prohaska was living in Linz, Austria, building housing for American personnel in Salzburg. Eventually, the head engineer convinced him to go to Canada and decades later, he made the move to Lake Havasu City, seeking all of the spoils promised to him by Robert McCulloch.

“I found out they could fly you in here from Toronto,” he said. “We got down here, and I liked it so much here that I said I’m staying.”

Prohaska then began building houses and became the second president of the Home Builders Association in 1983, the same year he completed the memorial. Prohaska worked on the monument for two years using granite leftover from the London Bridge, donated by Syl Cohan, according to News-Herald archives.

“I said I’ll do it without charge, but I want to complete it by hand and finish it on my time. It has to be done right,” he said, adding that local veterans originally helped with the construction in 1981. “They helped for about an hour and said it was too much. So I said that’s fine, you can help but I can finish it myself by hand.”

Recently, when the memorial was damaged, Prohaska was one of the first to notice and has dedicated the last two months to finishing the repairs.

“Now a lot of that leftover stone is in my yard so I have the material I need,” Prohaska said. “I don’t know anyone else who is going to do this, and I love it so it’s no problem.” There is a small bonus, Prohaska said. Watching the smiles and inspired awes on the faces of people who pass make the whole project worth it.

“I see people stopping and looking at this all the time and I want them to see it at 100 percent,” he said. “It’s too important to the veterans and to the city to ignore it.”

Upon setting the final piece of granite into place once more, Prohaska let out a long sigh of relief.

“It feels great,” he said with a wide grin. “Now people can see it the way it was meant to be seen.”

But each time he makes the repairs, Prohaska said he feels a part of himself also becoming complete once more.

“People see it and they think of the veterans and what they’ve done,” he said. “ But then they walk around and see (the plaque) and maybe they think ‘There’s Ernst. The man who built it,’

When you come to Wheeler Park, you remember (veterans) and maybe you remember me. And that’s why I love it. It’s special because it’s right in the center.”

You can contact the reporter at nbruttell@havasunews.com