Veterans Tribute Will Be More than Monument

By Desiree Parker Monday, August 15, 2011

 

Memorials are intended to commemorate something significant. On Veterans Day this year, one Williamsburg resident plans to erect a memorial in New Town that he hopes will also become a call to action.

Former head of the U.S. Veterans Administration and Williamsburg resident Harry Walters has established a nonprofit, the Veterans Coalition, that aims to address current veterans’ causes. His vision is to have the greater Williamsburg area launch a community reintegration project to help returning Reserve and National Guard troops get the support they need when they get home, and he plans to introduce this plan during a Veteran’s Day celebration in New Town. The event will culminate with the dedication of a Veteran’s Tribute Tower in New Town that will be partially forged by on-site metalsmiths.

 

Walters says his plan has three goals: “We want to recognize the vets, to give them a tribute, and also at the end of all this, the most important piece to me… is the reintegration of National Guard and Reserve in the community.”

 

Walters understands the issues facing vets. Prior to his four years as Administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration in the late 80s, he was the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. Walters, a West Point graduate and Army officer, was most recently a co-chair in the President’s Task Force to Improve Healthcare for American Veterans from 2001 to 2003.

Speaking of the recent U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Walters says, “This is the first war we’ve had in history with more than 50 percent [of the forces are] Reserve and National Guard.”

These men and women don’t have the support services upon their return that regular armed services members have, and “when they return it is directly back to the community that they left behind,” he points out.

These vets often have significant emotional trauma and other issues to cope with when they come home, and Walters says there are about 600 suicides a year within this veteran group.

Walters established the Veterans Coalition to help address this issue, and he wants to launch a reintegration project on 11/11/11, Veteran’s Day.

A 17-year resident of Williamsburg, he decided to use the area as a model for similar future programs across the country because “the caliber of our community could serve as a national model as to how to effectively bring together and leverage the assets of disparate organizations within a community in holistic support of Veteran’s reintegration and the individual needs of Veterans and their families.”

Walters' nonprofit aims to use the outreach abilities of the faith community to help identify returning vets, and then establish an office for the Virginia Veterans Reintegration Project that will be staffed by professionals and volunteers to coordinate with the resources vets may need in the area.

“Our Veterans have shown what they are willing to do to protect our freedoms and the American way of life that we so enjoy,” he says in a letter on the Veterans Tribute website.

“It is time for all of us to ensure that our appreciation is conveyed in a meaningful way by addressing their real needs and obstacles they are facing in returning to communities and a way of life that they, and their families, have earned the privilege to enjoy.”

Walters feels it is fitting to mark the launch of the reintegration program with a Veterans Tribute Tower on property donated by New Town in James City County. The monument will feature a tower built by the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, which has been making cast bronze bells, tower clocks, monuments and memorials since 1842.

To date, four Veterans Tribute Towers have been erected across the country to honor men and women of the Armed Forces. Last year, a tower was installed in Ogden, Utah, during 2010 Veteran’s Day ceremonies.

Verdin sends out a Bell Foundry on Wheels to the tower site, where the 500-pound tower bell will be forged.

The traveling foundry will arrive in Williamsburg with a motorcycle escort of Patriot Rider Veterans.

The tower will be dedicated on Veteran's Day at a ceremony featuring a keynote speaker and an official representative from each branch of the armed services, and after the ceremony the clock tower will chime on the hour. A blueprint for the reintegration program will be turned over to the county then, as well.

The dedication ceremony will be the culmination of a Veterans Tribute Weekend that will include a Veterans Day parade.

Walters and his organization have raised about $60,000 of the $250,000 needed for the weekend, which includes the cost of the tower. Visit the Virginia Veterans Tribute website to donate or to learn more about the project.