At the close of the long holiday weekend, families of those who gave all for the nation are looking beyond Memorial Day.
Since they feel the sacrifice of our troops every day, a memorial is planned for the Arkansas State Capitol to make sure they are always honored, as well. But after years of planning, ground has yet to be broken.
“We just need to get our cause out there,” Paul Garrett said Monday afternoon. “I think, when people understand what we’re trying to do, and how these families have suffered in silence all this time, that they will step up.”
Garrett is a co-chair of the Arkansas Gold Star Family Monument Committee, which has been working for the last couple years to erect a monument to honor the families left behind by the men and women killed in combat.
“The families have been overlooked a lot of times,” Garrett said. “We honor the lost, the fallen soldiers, but the families suffer that loss not only when that loss occurs, like in the funeral. It goes on. It’s a daily sacrifice for them. I mean, they live this sacrifice.”
After hearings with the Secretary of State’s office and the passage of Act 281 in the 2017 legislative session, a monument was approved to be placed on the grounds of the State Capitol. It will be directly in front of the Capitol’s west entrance, and feature a half-circle plaza measuring 78 feet across and 39 feet deep, with a sculpture like others designed as part of the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation’s monument campaign. It was the first ever approved to be placed beside a state capitol.
“We feel like this will be the premiere monument of this type nationwide,” Garrett said.
A monument as big and grand as the committee has planned is expensive. Garrett said the budget at one point ballooned past $600,000. The price tag is, “still a major hurdle,” Garrett admitted, “but it looks a lot more obtainable now than it did a couple of months ago, before they came onboard.”
“They” is Nabholz Construction, which recently volunteered its services. Along with donations of time from some subcontractors, Garrett said the cost of the project has been cut in half. But he added that the committee is still less than a third of the way to its new fundraising target.
“The challenge, I think, is there are so many good causes out there,” he said. “But every time you turn around, somebody has got a fund drive going for something.”
The committee lost $90,000 in grant funding last year when the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that those grants were not permissible.
Garrett mentioned that many military and veterans’ groups have supported the project. He singled out the contribution of the Catholic High School JROTC program, which raised more than $20,000.
“These are teenagers,” he said, with a sense of marvel in his voice. “So, what that says to all us veterans is: we need to step up.”
Garrett, a Vietnam veteran and Commandant of the Marine Corps League Sidney McMath Detachment #532, said there are 250,000 veterans living in Arkansas. He mentioned that if each gave just $1, that would be enough to cover the cost of the monument. If they can help spread the word about the project, he believes it could come together quickly.
“We want these families to know that their loved ones’ sacrifice is not going to be forgotten,” he said.
Garrett said his hope remains to begin construction by Veterans Day.
According to the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation, 35 such monuments have been built around the country--including one in Beebe—and another 42 in progress. Since Arkansas legislated this monument, Louisiana and West Virginia have also passed bills allowing monuments to gold star families to be erected at their capitols.
To donate to the Arkansas monument, you may either click here, or send a check to the Arkansas Gold Star Families Monument Committee at PO Box 5670, Jacksonville, AR 72078.