Introduction

In 2014, the Town of Morrisville proposed that the Town build a memorial to veterans and generously dedicated a plot of land on which the memorial could be built. The Veterans Memorial Foundation was constituted. It was incorporated in 2016 as a North Carolina non-profit corporation. In 2018, the Internal Revenue Service recognized the Foundation as a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation.

Point for Consideration

“At the close of World War II, National Garden Clubs, Inc. (called National Council of State Garden Clubs at the time), like other public-spirited groups, was seeking a suitable means of honoring our service men and women. Garden Club members visualized living memorials, preferring to help beautify and preserve the country these men and women had fought for, rather than building stone monuments in their honor.”
--- Please see this document, p.5

This estimate was assembled in early 2023. Inflation and other factors have almost certainly pushed the figures higher.

Currently Proposed Design

In 2022, the Town of Morrisville generously paid $35,000 for a local design firm to produce a preliminary design.

This is the design that was delivered to the Foundation by the contracted firm.

After review of the designs and principled discussions among those with widely divergent opinions for the design of the memorial, it was suggested by the Morrisville Town Council that:

there would be NO eternal flame (it was inconceivable to many that a proposed design contained a device that, in this time of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere, would add to that amount – 24 hours a day, every day – in perpetuity, with fuel costs borne by Morrisville taxpayers),
there would be NO cherry trees like those on the National Mall (the 3,800 cherry trees on the National Mall are a non-native species that cost the U. S. taxpayers a fortune every year to maintain in this hemisphere),
there would be NO Hostile Architecture (hostile architecture is seating designed and used by cities to provide uncomfortable seating for the homeless and other undesirables, in order to encourage them to move on to elsewhere. The seating for the memorial would be designed and built to allow for the intended purpose of the memorial),
there WOULD BE a POW/MIA flag flying directly beneath the American Flag, and
there WOULD BE a symbol for the United States Space Force along with symbols for the other five United States armed services.

After discussions, there was no agreement on various other aspects of the design, and those disagreements seem impossible to resolve. The main differences of opinion concern the fact that the memorial – as designed – will not serve its intended purpose; that it is so inordinately expensive that it is unlikely the Foundation can raise the funds to build it; and it will not be environmentally sensitive.

The reason for this website, published by Bill Dutkiewicz and George McDowell and strongly urged by others, including members of the local VFW and American Legion posts – strong opponents of the current design and its obscene construction cost ($928,000) and maintenance costs ($35,000 to $45,000 per year, and to be borne by Morrisville taxpayers), and strong proponents of a community design and construction – is to bring transparency to the ongoing discussion, and to provide a forum for those who are concerned to make their opinions known to those who who will make the final decision on what the Morrisville Veterans memorial will be.

The Town of Cary built a veterans memorial some years ago. It is unused. It has a lot of "stuff" which people don't care for: a "space needle" sculpture; brutal, unshaded concrete seating that is hostile architecture – too cold to sit on in winter and too hot to sit on in the other nine months of the year, and in any event, not one wants to sit on hard concrete with a 90-degree backrest. There are no other places to sit in this barren two-acre site and its vast area of unshaded grass.

Cary has planned a $2.5 million "upgrade" of its memorial site, to make it more hospitable for people who wish to simply sit in comfort and quietly and reverently reflect on the service and sacrifice of veterans. The Town of Morrisville should learn from the mistakes of the Town of Cary, and build things properly in the first instance.