Group plans to unveil WWI memorial

When a local veterans organization unveiled the monument honoring Vietnam soldiers at Common Pleas Courthouse Park last year they didn't expect it to draw so much attention.

"It's a place where every once in a while you'll see grown men crying," said Rodger Brown, president of the Trail of Tears chapter of VietNow in Cape Girardeau.

Now the group plans to turn the Lorimier Street park into a veterans' memorial for major conflicts, if the two Civil War monuments on the courthouse grounds are included.

The next monument will be unveiled at the city park during the Libertyfest fireworks display, if there are no objections during the county commission meeting at 11 a.m. Thursday.

Critics say that the monument may interfere with events that take place at the park like Tunes at Twilight or weddings. But according to County Commissioner Jay Purcell, the city and the county are pretty close to agreeing on the dimensions that have been laid out.

The new granite monument, already complete, is dedicated to World War I veterans. The details on the memorial are meant to be kept a surprise until the Fouth of July, but if it is anything like the Vietnam monument it will stand 6 feet tall.

VietNow plans to dedicate a monument to World War II veterans next year and one to Korean War veterans in 2009.

The final step would be a Gold Star Mothers Memorial in the center of what will be called the Octagon of Hope according to Brown, if the group is allowed to place all the monuments on the same site.

"You can't have monuments of people who served the country and leave out their families," he said. "They've sacrificed a great deal by losing their children."

The entire project will cost more than $100,000, Brown said. He plans to continue to raise money for the project through fund-raisers such as the Patriot's Ball on Veterans Day.

"The monuments show our region that we hold our veterans in high esteem," Brown said. "It has created an enormous healing process for veterans and families."

Jim Carver, vice president of the VietNow chapter, visited the site with Brown a couple of days after the first monument was erected. While they were there, a man walking by fell to his knees in front of the monument and started crying, Carver said.

"We had no idea it would have this type of effect," Brown said. The organization anticipated 50 people showing up at the dedication last year but there were about 300. Since then, many people have visited the site to place flowers and poems on the monument.

The Vietnam memorial does not include names because it is intended to represent all veterans, dead or alive, and the World War I monument will be designed the same way.

The local chapter of VietNow became official in August 2006. The organization is comprised of veterans who have served in the military from 1957 to now.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137