The Global War on Terror (GWOT) continues into its fifth decade, and local veterans want to make sure the sacrifice made by those who have fought and served in our armed forces are recognized for their service now, while they are alive.
Veterans of Desert Shield, Desert Storm and the GWOT want to educate the community about what their service has included — part of the inspiration behind the concept for a new addition to Siouxland Freedom Park that was unveiled Monday afternoon at the Brigadier Gen. Bud & Doris Day Interpretive Center.
Initial designs of the project that were presented show a 7-acre setup in the northwest corner of the 55-acre park in South Sioux City that takes park visitors to a depiction of where the action was for those who fought in these wars.
“in its kind of beginning phase, in its rendition phase,” SFP president Rene LaPierre told those in attendance. “This is about honoring the service and sacrifice of 40 years. It's also to educate the public about our service members. And finally, it's going to give the men and women who serve for over 40 years an opportunity for reflection and perhaps finding peace inside them.”
LaPierre joked about his artistic skills as he talked about putting the initial ideas down on paper.
“When I brought this to (the board), they were very guarded with laughter, and their smiles,” he said. “Some just gave nice smiles, because that's always what they do, is nice smiles. But they knew that in our minds, there was something that we had, and everything has a purpose in this memorial.”
The concept behind the design is meant to take visitors to where the action was — in the villages and war-torn streets of Iraq.
Visitors enter through a guard post that will include two facsimile Howitzer guns designed by students at South Sioux City High School. Stops will include a village, a city street and a memorial. LaPierre hoped to be able to position a tank or a B-52 bomber somewhere in the space.
One of the features of the new addition is that there won’t be any pavement to walk on in the area.
“I served for six and a half months (in the early 90’s), and I never saw a pavement in six and a half months,” LaPierre said. “There was sand, and that's the importance of sand.”
LaPierre also hopes to be able to find an old tank or aircraft that was part of the fighting, although he admitted that might be hard to come up with.
“I want every plane that had anything to do with these past 40 years. I want a rendition of it, whether it's a B-52, or the stealth bomber,” he said.
Finding some of these vehicles though — that’s another matter.
“If you hear anything about tanks, or howitzers missing, anywhere in the community, you know nothing. Just pretend you don't know anything,” he joked.
Another feature is a memorial area built to represent a flight line ceremony similar to when the coffins filled with American soldiers come off of the airplane when it returns home.
“We want everybody to remember that,” LaPierre added.
LaPierre’s initial sketch was turned over to Sioux City-based FEH Design architectural company, which turned his stick-figure humans and rough draft into a series of colorful renditions that were available for viewing during Monday’s news conference.
“When we got the call, we were told there were some sketches they wanted us to look at,” Joi Sullivan, architect and FEH vice president, told the Star. “It’s got everything there tht was in (LaPierre’s) mind, and that’s what our job is, to pull things out of our clients’ minds and go from there.”
That day-long meeting ended with a sketch concept and the eventual completion of the site plan, which was given initial approval by the City Council of South Sioux City at their Monday evening meeting.
Sullivan said she was impressed with the idea LaPierre and the park has for honoring this era’s fighting men and women.
“I think it’s amazing,” she said of the idea. “We’re completely honored to be a part of this, to be asked to be part of this memorial. It’s going to be an awesome thing for the community.”
Mike Robinette, representing H&R Construction, said that as a general contractor, they will work with the park and FEH to help turn the idea into a physical reality once work begins sometime in 2027.
“Everybody needs to know, cost wise, what things are gonna take, so we'll help with that,” he said. “And then when it comes to construction, we'll help line up all the subcontractors and facilitate getting things built for them.”
Robinette said he was impressed with what LaPierre has come up with and is excited to be part of the project.
“I wasn't sure what to expect until we were part of the day long meeting with Renee and FEH, so that was our first exposure to it,” he said. “It was pretty neat to hear some of their stories and the why behind it was something that we really wanted to be a part of.”
Funding for the new park addition, LaPierre said, will come from donations and fundraising efforts in the Siouxland area.
“This is a really unique arrangement,” he said. “We don’t have cost figures now, but we’ll be knocking on doors and talking to companies and corporations and businesses, whether they are mom-and-pops or big corporations, and we also have schools that collect pennies and donate them to us. We will accept any donation and welcome it, and every contribution will go to this park.”
