JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — With Veterans Day just weeks away, volunteers gathered at the former NAS Cecil Field on Jacksonville’s Westside to complete part of a memorial honoring veterans.
About 75 volunteers picked up shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows under the cool October sun to help build the National POW/MIA Memorial. Participants included members of the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association, active-duty Marines and Future Farmers of America students.
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The work completed this week is part of a larger, four-phase project, said Ed Turner, executive director of the National POW/MIA Memorial.
“This is one of four phases. This was the heritage aspect of the old Cecil Field that was here from World War II to 1999,” Turner said.
The most significant part of the project is still to come, Turner said. A 20-acre site behind the phase currently under construction will house the national memorial.
“The significant part of this project is yet to come. It’s 20 acres behind us right here, and that is gonna be actually housing the National Memorial,” Turner said.
Once it passes a House resolution, the site will include a memorial hall for the more than 81,000 military members missing in action.
Turner said the hall is meant to serve families and veterans alike.
“This will be a place really for the families of those service members to come and see ancestors or their fathers or their brothers’ names on it and for veterans to come here and see those comrades that they served with memorialized,” Turner said.
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The project is funded entirely by donations, which are not limited to money. Contributions include trees, plants, equipment, and time, like that of Brylee Wood, a 12th grader at Oakleaf High School.
Wood said her teacher asked whether she wanted to help with landscaping at the site, and she jumped at the chance.
“My parents have both always been big on educating us and teaching us about our history. We always go to memorials and such, so it was really important for me when my teacher asked me if I wanted to come out here and help do some landscaping,” Wood said.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The timeline for the entire project depends on funding.
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