PEORIA, Ill. — A third statue to commemorate Peoria-area veterans is scheduled to be erected.
Peoria County Veteran’s Memorial Committee has invited the public Jul. 3 to the county courthouse for what is being touted as the final installment for the war memorial, titled “A Final Salute.”
“This really started in 1999, with the first War Memorial Committee,” said County Director of Strategic Communications, Gretchen Pearsall.
“They really actively worked to bring the World War I and World War II memorial to fruition in 2007. Not long after that, those committee members really had the mission of wanting to honor all Peoria County veterans, and so they worked with Peoria County Board and fundraised and really actively pursued our most recent memorial, which is called “A Final Salute,” which we actually dedicated in 2018.
“At that time, we had the statue from the Vietnam War, and they also had one from the Korean War. This third and final statue is going to be a U.S. service member representative of the Wars on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The statue was made by Sioux Falls, SD-based Darwin Wolf.
Pearsall said while this is set to be the final war memorial, there is blank space on the granite wall that adorns the memorial that currently contains the names of 233 Peoria County Veterans who didn’t return home.
“Just knowing there will be future conflicts, and we can only imagine there will be future veterans who may lose their lives,” she said.
The dedication is set to begin at 11 A.M. Local veterans, dignitaries, and members of the committee will kick things off, and Senator Tammy Duckworth, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, will be the keynote speaker.
More information from Pearsall:
