A new three-ton ship’s anchor will make a great impression at the All Veterans Memorial some day. Or at least, more of an impression than the shovels used for its groundbreaking Monday.
The morning groundbreaking proved to be more of a ground-scraping as the sun-hardened turf resisted all attempts to dig in by both city officials and members of the Soden’s Grove All Veterans Memorial Association.
“We need more water!” association member Frank Lowery called out, laughing.
The anchor is from the USS Perry, a U.S. Navy destroyer, and was acquired by the association last year. It will eventually be placed north of the Purple Heart Memorial and a bit north and west of the helicopter.
“This anchor not only comes off of a Navy vessel, but from one that served from World War II all the way up to 2006, when it was decommissioned,” Lowery said. “That anchor has a lot of history behind it and it represents more veterans than we’ll ever know.”
The association has been trying to get representation at the park for all the military services, such as the U.S. Army tank and the memorial to local Marine hero Grant Timmerman.
Association member Larry Timmons, a Navy veteran, learned about the anchor and began making the calls that eventually helped the association track it down.
The Department of Defense and Department of the Navy allowed the association to get the anchor for free, so long as they arranged to move it from Philadelphia to Emporia. Members of the Army Reserve’s 425 Transportation Company offered their help and made the run in May 2006.
Schmidt Engineering will build a three-foot deep pad for the anchor with concrete donated by Penny’s Concrete. Lowery said that Sauder Custom Fabrication, Coffelt Signs and many others had either lent a hand or would be helping out in the construction of the memorial.
Mayor Julie Johnson said that, at a time when the city was looking to spruce up many of its entrances, this anchor would make a beautiful area even more so.
“It probably is the most attractive entrance we have to this city,” Johnson said.
No completion date has been announced for the project.
Lowery and the association are still looking for an appropriate way to represent the U.S. Air Force.
“If someone happens to stumble across a P-38 somewhere, we’ll be glad to work it in,” he joked.