BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) - A Bay City nonprofit that recognizes veterans is working to create Michigan’s first ever Gold Star Family Memorial Monument.
The Bay Veterans Foundation is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony April 29 at the city’s Battery Park. The monument is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, the Bay City Times (https://bit.ly/2njNjzE ) reported.
Gold Star Family members are relative of a United States Armed Forces member killed while serving in the military. The monument’s purpose is to help memorialize the fallen soldiers and the families who made the sacrifice for the nation.
Foundation President and Vietnam War veteran Keith Markstrom said he wants to raise $100,000 for the entire project. The money would go toward the monument’s construction, the walkway leading to the monument and potentially paying veterans to help build it.
“In our family, we’ve had soldiers from the Revolutionary War up until my service in Vietnam,” he said. “We were covered in Korea, World War II, the Civil War. It really made me think how decimating war is or the loss of a loved one. That ends that family’s life. There is no progeny, no more dreams for those people.”
Each of the monument’s back panels will have a specific theme.
“From left to right, those themes are homeland, family, patriots and sacrifice,” foundation secretary Tim Eckstein said. “The local community has discretion in selecting the images that are going to be etched on those panels to best reflect the community values for those four themes.”
There are currently 17 completed memorials around the nation and 37 more planned for construction. Markstrom said he hopes that Michigan will have more Gold Star Family monuments in the future.
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Information from: The Bay City Times, https://www.mlive.com/bay-city
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