Outside the State Capitol is a memorial to those who have fought in the wars the United States has been in since Missouri became a state in 1821, through the memorial’s dedication in 1991. Jefferson City dentist J.C. Standlee launched an effort to extend it to include the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
J.C. Standlee discusses the Veterans Memorial with Senator Mike Kehoe (center) and Jefferson City resident Sarah Topp. (photo from Facebook)
“We have a generation of young men and women who have sacrificed and served our country and our state when they were asked, and I just think it’s important that they have some place to honor them,” Standlee told Missourinet.”
There’s a problem, though. When the memorial was designed, room wasn’t left for additional granite obelisks to be added.
“They’ve got the eight obelisks lined up in a row there, but there’s really no place else to put the two that we need for Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Standlee. “The design challenge there is going to be how do we include two more memorials, to more of the obelisks, and not take away from what is there currently.”
The focus now is on raising more than $10,000 to draft a design, so supporters can come up with an estimate and begin raising money toward the expansion. Legislators are being asked to donate toward the cost of that design.
Standlee said while everyone hopes there will be no more wars to add, the new design will likely leave room for expansion.
“We should probably look to the future and maybe design it in a way that 100 years from now, those memorials can be added to it a little more easily than what we’re trying to do now,” said Standlee.
