AMERICAN VETERANS MEMORIAL HISTORY
The American Veterans Memorial was designed by Leonard Holden, Jr. in 2003 and was proposed to be built in Hardy, AR. No location could be found in Hardy and Ash Flat former Mayor Brien Nix Hall asked Mr. Holden to come to Ash Flat. Mayor Hall and the City of Ash Flat provided a location at the City Park near the ball fields and Ozarka College. Mayor Hall was also instrumental in organizing a committee to oversee fund raising and help manage the development and up-keep of the Memorial.
The Committee consisted of the following people:
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Mike Byron |
Carlota Carver |
Renee Clay-Circle |
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Nelson Gatewood |
Charlotte Goodwin |
Brian Nix-Hall |
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Leonard Holden |
Sharron Mathis |
Randy McComas |
A local artist was contracted to paint a depiction of the Memorial as described by Mr. Holden. (Painting shown below). This painting along with other information was used to show potential donors and at fund raising events.
Construction of the Memorial was started in 2004 and completed in November, 2006 at a cost of approximately $320,000. The total amount of funds could not be raised in a timely manner. To complete the Memorial without delay the original seven members of the committee borrowed approximately $150,000. These funds are still being paid by the Memorial Committee and should be completed by January, 2013.
The Memorial was constructed by Don Honey Masonry under the direction of Mr. Holden. The Memorial was named American Veterans Memorial and is dedicated to all American Veterans who served from the Revolutionary War to the present.
The Memorial was designed to be as unique as possible and to be a place of honor for all veterans. The entrance has a large map of the world engraved in granite. This was chosen because our military has served throughout the world at one time or another.
The bronze statue of a male soldier is one and one-quarter life size and depicts a soldier marking and guarding a fallen comrade. A bronze statue of a female soldier stands along side the male and both are facing the United States Flag.
The idea of the spiraling birds sculpture representing the people that perished in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon follows in the overall design around the fountain and also fills the criteria of military significance. This event is on the order of Pearl Harbor, in that it represents and reminds us of the only direct attack on the continental United States by a foreign enemy.
The curved walls that contain the names of veterans are designed in a unique way in that the radius at the top is greater than at the bottom resulting in a slanted curved wall that makes for easy viewing of veterans names. The other components follow a similar theme to honor all veterans of the armed forces:
The American Veterans Memorial is dedicated in honor of all veterans of the armed forces of the United States.
THE AMERICAN VETERAN
BY
Leonard H. Holden, Jr.
2008
He was there at Lexington
And at Concord
He fired the "shot heard around the world"
He crossed the Delaware
And fought at Trenton and Princeton
He defended the fort at Ticonderoga
And survived the winter at Valley Forge
He was there at the surrender at Yorktown
He was aboard the Essex
The Constitution at the battle of Nova Scotia
He was there when the British marched on Washington
At the battle for Baltimore
The bombardment of Ft. McHenry
And the British defeat at New Orleans
He was at Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor
At Pea Ridge, Fredericksburg
And Chancellorsville, Vicksburg
The battle for Chattanooga
And the march across Georgia
He was there when it ended
At Appomattox Court House
He was with the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill
At Manila Bay
And the surrender at Santiago
He was at the battle at Champagne, Verdun and the Somme
At Argonne Forest
The battlefields of the Western Front
He was at Pearl Harbor
With Doolittle over Tokyo
The battle of the Coral Sea
The Bataan Peninsula, and the defeat on the island of Corregidor
He was at the battle at Midway, Guadalcanal
He flew over Berlin and landed at Palermo
And Anzeo
He died at Normandy and marched to Germany
Liberated Paris and fought the Battle of the Bulge
He landed on Iwo Jima, Okinawa
And flew on the B-29 Enola Gay over Hiroshima
He was there, Uijonngbu-Seoul Valley
He fought at the Pusan Perimeter
The Beachhead at Inchon
Pyongyang and the Yalu River
He endured at the Chosin Reservoir
At Bloody Ridge, Heartbreak Ridge
He fought to the top of Old Baldy, Pork Chop Hill
And held the line at the 38th parallel
He was at Da Nang Air Base
Rolling Thunder, bombing of Ho Chi Minh Trail
Landed at China Beach
Chu Lai Assault and the Battle of Ia Drang Valley
He was on the Inland Waterways
Served on the Navy's Swift Boats
Patrolled the Mekong Delta
He was at the Battle of Dak To
The battle for Saigon
He was at Kuwait City
Defended against incoming Scud Missiles
Advanced on Baghdad
Fought at the battle for Fallujah
Kirkurk
He will defend freedom wherever it is threatened
Leonard H. Holden, Jr. Oct. 2008