The City of Knoxville and the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association recently announced plans to dedicate a portion of the World’s Fair Park grounds to a veteran’s memorial and to lease a location downtown for a Veterans History Center.
The memorial will be situated in the north of the park within sight of the court of flags, according to Amy Nolan, spokeswoman for the City of Knoxville.
Nolan said the memorial is an important addition to the park that will serve the community in ways the park has not done yet.
“We really think it’s a great project, and it’s an important addition as a place to serve as a reminder about the sacrifices [of our soldiers],” she said.
The memorial will consist of 32 granite pylons with the names of deceased veterans from 35 of East Tennessee’s counties, said John Romeiser, secretary to the board of the ETVMA and professor of modern foreign languages and literature.
“The memorial itself will contain granite pylons that will list the names of all of the 35 counties of those killed in action from conflicts from World War I all the way up to [the] conflict in Afghanistan,” Romeiser said.
Romeiser said that the group hopes to break ground in the park by Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, this year and to complete the project by next Veteran’s Day.
Nolan said that the memorial’s location will attract visitors from many of the region’s counties.
“It’s scenic, it’s a really pretty location and it really lends itself to folks who want to come and reflect privately,” she said.
Romeiser said he thought the memorial’s location in the park would draw visitors and veterans groups from across the state and boost the downtown economy. Nolan, however, said that an economic boost to downtown isn’t the purpose for creating the memorial in the park.
“I think that’s secondary to our goal. If it happens, that would be great, but most important is it’s a fitting way to honor these folks,” she said.
Knoxville had lacked a veterans memorial like the one now to be built, which inspired the ETVMA leader, Romeiser said.
“I guess they had other priorities. The interesting thing is that there are bridges in Knox County that are named after Medal of Honor winners,” he said. “They’ve named some things for individuals who’ve distinguished themselves, but not for the rank and file soldier.”
“Our founder, William Felton, he was the one who made the trip around the year 2000 to visit the World War II cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy. He came back and realized we didn’t have anything like that here,” Romeiser said.
The ETMVA has been working with Knox County for as long as three years to get the funding and with the city for nearly two years to find the lot of land, Romeiser said.
According to a press release issued by the city, the Knox County Commission plans to donate $1.25 million while U.S. Rep. Jim Duncan Jr. has worked with senators Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander to obtain $475,000 in federal funds for the project. A campaign to raise the remaining $2.5 million from private donors will be launched soon.
Nolan said the city has pledged to lease the plot of land to the ETVMA at no charge for 25 years to be renewed for another 25 years at no charge upon the veterans group’s request, and the city will be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the memorial.
The Veterans History Center, which Romeiser said the group hopes will be located in the old L&N Railroad Station when an acceptable lease is negotiated, will house records of the life stories of living and dead veterans and an accurate history of the 5,400 dead veterans whose names will be inscribed in the memorial. The center will also include a theater and will serve as a forum to discuss veterans’ issues.
For more information about the memorial and the Veterans History Center, visit http://www.etvma.org or call (865) 633-8337.
