Posted on 04/17/2015 5:55:53 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Officials worry a monument featuring a gun may be an inappropriate centerpiece in the village park.
MILFORD, Mich. -- A veterans group wants to complete the Veterans Memorial in Milford's Central Park with a fallen soldier monument, but the village council isn't sure the piece — which features a pair of boots and a helmet atop an M-16 rifle — is an appropriate focal point for the park.
Bear Hall, founder and chairman of the local Friends of American Veterans (FAV), approached the council earlier this month hoping for approval of the plan.
The group wants to place a fallen soldier memorial – also known as a battle field cross – at the end of the brick paver walkway leading out from the current Veterans Memorial near the main park entrance.
The plan calls for an 8-foot-tall monument, including a 43-inch granite base matching the current memorial, topped by a 52-inch sculpture of the fallen soldier memorial: a bronze sculpture of combat boots and M-16, with dog tags and a helmet on top.
It's the rifle that has raised concerns among some members of the parks commission and the village council.
The proposal went to the Village Parks and Recreation Commission last month for consideration. The commissioners, said Village Manager Christian Wuerth, did not make a recommendation to council on the matter.
"There was some concern from a couple of members regarding the specific memorial that's proposed," said Wuerth. "Specifically, the gun. They understood the history of (the memorial) and the meaning of it, they just didn't feel it was appropriate for that specific location."
Several members of the village council agreed.
Council President Jerry Aubry says he's not opposed to the fallen soldier monument itself, but rather the prominence of the proposed location.
"I don't think it needs to be a center point of our Central Park," Aubry said. "The boots, the machine gun, the helmet; I understand it should be there somewhere, but I don't think it should be right in the middle of the park."
"Being a veteran I want to see a monument there, yes," said Councilman Tom Nader. "I just don't think this is the proper one."
Councilwoman Jennifer Frankford disagrees.
"If it wasn't for the boots and the gun and the helmet, we wouldn't have all the freedoms we have," she said.
The piece is representative of the memorial assembled by troops when a comrade is killed at war. The practice is said to date back to the Civil War, when it was used to identify bodies on the battleground.
More recently, however, the assemblage of a battle field cross became an important tradition among troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, allowing soldiers still engaged in the fight – and unable to attend the funeral back home – to honor and memorialize a fallen comrade.
Hall, who served with the Marines from 1982 to 1990, said his original plan called for a smaller monument, but he was told the piece had to match the height of the Washington Monument replica at the site. The larger piece, he said, increased the cost of the project from $6,000 to $17,000.
Over the last three months, FAV has raised about $12,000 in donations to pay for the new memorial. Many of the donations, Hall said, came from the downtown Milford business community, as well from other local businesses and organizations and individuals.
From left, veterans Joe Bishop, Bear Hall and Ron Nevorski are part of a group that wants to finish the Veterans Memorial in MIlford's Central Park with a fallen soldier monument.(Photo: Hal Gould/Michigan.com)
The council plans to discuss the issue again on April 20 and Hall plans to attend the meeting "with a lot of people."
"All the vets I talked to (after the meeting) are furious," he said. "People who gave me money are furious. Everyone's thinking the same thing we're thinking: We didn't win the war by throwing sticks and stones."
"It's the ultimate sacrifice," Hall added. "Somebody gave their life to protect and serve this country and they should be remembered. They should never be forgotten."
Hall said he was open to a smaller monument, as well as a different location within the Veterans Memorial.
"It could be to the side," Hall said. "I'm not averse to that. We feel – the veterans feel – that it needs to be there. If (council) doesn't want it as a focal point, that's fine, but we don't want some foofoo fountain, either."
Ron Nevorski of Milford, who is a member of the FAV board, served with Marines during the Korean War. The fallen soldier memorial, he said, is important to him.
"If people are worried about their kids seeing a gun, take away their video games and take away their TVs," he said. "Don't let them hunt, and don't teach them to protect themselves.
"These guys, these fallen heroes, have given everything for our freedom."
Every country in existence today is the result of success in war. Every country that will be existence in 100 years will likewise be the result of success in war. Will America be among them?
Anybody know anything about Milford?
I do now, the town council is pathetic!
Yes, AWESOME town with a great new brewery called “River’s Edge.” Downtown area is a wonderful old feel main street with bustling shops and restaurants, all along the river.
I wish I still lived in Michigan. It would be worth the trip to Milford to go see real live morons.
Freedom Hill Park in Sterling Heights has a similar memorial in adition to a Huey, a tank and a F-4.
It is very moving and highly appropriate.
To deny that is to insult every man from Milford who ever bore arms to protect their freedom
um.. I am all for gun rights... but honestly that thing is an eyesore.
the machine gun,
Aubry = Moron
Yes it’s so offensive. They should have built it out of fabric softener so at least it smells good.
That memorial is NEVER out of place, you dummies!!! Veterans unite and vote those Council members out. Then run them out of town!!
No argument about the aesthetics of that particular memorial, but the attempt to remove guns from war memorials does not appear to be premised on aesthetics.
Well, I now know they're governed by a bunch of panny-ass liberals that think a statue of an M-16 is going to rise up and shoot everyone, that they have no appreciation for the sacrifices of the men from the area that served in the Armed Forces and that I want no part of the stinking place that is inhabited by the likes of them,
My favorite veterans memorial is in Texas:
http://www.friendswoodveteransmemorial.org/
Built by the locals using ZERO tax dollars.
Anybody know anything about Milford?
I know they don’t have any right living in a free country among decent people.
Milford residents are mostly conservative, in one of the more conservative counties, Oakland, in SE Michigan. That’s not to say that the Village Council shares their views. I suspect that there will be a large turnout at the next council meeting, and the residents will prevail.
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