There is room for 10,000 engraved
bricks in the main body of the memorial
There are two expansion areas on each side
of the memorial that can
hold an additional 5,000 bricks each making the memorial capable of holding
20,000 engraved bricksThe 14 foot five sided
monolith, made from the same black granite used to construct the Vietnam War
Memorial in Washington DC, was mined in South Africa and came to the United
States by ship through the St. Lawrence Seaway into Canada, then Minnesota
before coming to Ohio. Bronze medallions, for each branch of the military,
are attached to each side of the monolith, which is topped with an eternal
flame.
The granite for the benches and time capsule
enclosure was donated by the Franklin County Veteran's Memorial in downtown
Columbus, Ohio
Each of the benches is inscribed with a
sentence, from a phrase, that in total reads:
"Dedicated to the men and women who served
Who gave their full measure for god and country
To preserve freedom and liberty for us all
Through us they will live forever and never be forgotten."
All 5 service branches are represented at the
memorial |
The contents of the time capsule were
gathered from local schools, service organizations, residents and committee
members. The enclosure with the time capsule sealed inside was dedicated on
Veteran's Day, 2000 and is to be opened on Veteran's Day of 2050.
Planning for the park began in 1996
The first donation for the park was from The
Kroger Company at the last council meeting of the year in December 1997 for
$1000.00
Work began on the park in 1998
The memorial was officially dedicated with
all of the granite amenities in place on Memorial Day in May 2000
The memorial occupies land of the former
Discovery Park at Big Walnut Creek
There are three memorial trees planted at the
rear of the memorial with bronze plaques at each of the trees bases
The VFW Post 4719 donated a small area of
land at the south end of the park to the city in 1998. This was required so
the park was large enough to allow for 20,000 engraved bricks to be installed over time |
