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Doug Gardner, a Village of Gilchrist resident and chair of the Freedom Memorial Plaza Monument Committee, shows items on the new Vietnam War Memorial on Wednesday at Florida National Cemetery.
Bill Mitchell, Daily Sun
Episode 2684 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the dedication of a Vietnam War memorial at the Bushnell National Cemetery. The featured story comes from the Villages Daily Sun and was titled: New memorial honors Vietnam veterans. It was submitted by Veronica Wernicke, Daily Sun Senior Write.
Wernicke reported that, the Joint Veterans Support Committee group, which supports Florida National Cemetery, hosted a dedication ceremony for the memorial that was installed in December. This is the second of more than a dozen planned memorials and monuments for the cemetery.
The new memorial is a 6-feet-by-8-feet single piece of black granite featuring etched images of the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., taken by Charlie Isenhour, of the Village of LaBelle, along with images of the Women’s Vietnam Memorial, the Three Servicemen Statue, Vietnam and the Vietnam Service Medal, along with several phrases that explain the purpose of the memorial. The monument cost $90,000.
To kick off the ceremony, more than 100 motorcycle riders from across Florida rode into the cemetery and past the new memorial.
Some of the people and organizations instrumental in making the memorial possible, include John Thomstatter, VVA 1036, Florida’s Fallen (Whiskey and War Stories), the veteran’s group at Continental Country Club in Wildwood, T&D Concrete, Picture This on Granite, and many others.
The next two memorials in the works for Freedom Memorial Plaza are a women veteran’s memorial and a fallen heroes memorial. The fallen heroes memorial is on track to be done next year, while the women’s memorial is in the design phase
For more information about the JVSC or to donate to the Freedom Memorial Plaza project, visit jvsc.us.
Listen to episode 2684 and discover more about the dedication of a Vietnam War memorial at the Bushnell National Cemetery.
