How to Go
What: Re-dedication of Marines Memorial
Where: Veterans Memorial Park, next to Veterans Bridge on North Fountain Avenue
When: July 3, 10 a.m.
Changes are underway at Veterans Memorial Park in downtown Springfield and a $10,000 anonymous donation hopes to spur a renovation at the space.
The National Trail Parks and Recreation District recently received an $11,000 grant from the Springfield Conservancy District to hire an architect to help plan what can be done with the space.
“Veterans will be proud of it,” said Randall Ark, local Vietnam veteran who has worked over the last few years erecting veteran’s monuments at the park located near Veterans Bridge off North Fountain Avenue.
The first phase of the park renovation is already underway, Ark said, as crews from Monu-Bright Cemetery Restoration move three monuments from the north side of the Buck Creek bike trail that runs through the park, to the south of the trail.
“They’ll all be together and cohesive now,” Ark said.
The first monument, aside from the Veterans Memorial Park stage that sits in the park, was laid in 1988 by Vietnam veteran Roger Warren.
That monument honors the 1st Battalion 3rd Marines Regiment, Warren said, that was one of the first United States troops to hit the ground in Vietnam.
The monument will be moved by July 3, when according to Warren, more than 20 Marine vets from across the U.S. will visit Springfield for a re-dedication ceremony.
“There was a time when we got very little recognition for our service and now I’m just thrilled to see these new monuments and the new plans for the park,” Warren said.
The park is owned by the Springfield Conservancy District and is maintained by the NTPRD, said park deputy director Brad Boyer.
NTPRD hired a park architect to help design the space, he said. The proposed plans include a walking path lined with monuments that honor all the wars in American history, from the Revolution to the War on Terror.
The walls would be filled with the names and faces of local men and women who fought for their country, Ark said.
The new park would also include a new stage for the several veterans ceremonies that are held at that location each year.
This is still a work in progress, Ark said, and fundraising to make the project possible is the next step.
Plans are not finalized and the total cost of the project is still unknown, he said, but donations to the park can be made to the Veterans Memorial Park endowment through the Springfield Foundation.
A previous Springfield News-Sun article on Ark’s efforts to revitalize the veterans memorial, he said, is what led to the $10,000 anonymous donation that allowed Ark to start planning a renovation at the park.
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