New granite walls added at Sunnyside's veterans memorial
Sunnyside's Jerry Taylor Veterans Plaza grew on Thursday as workers installed two more granite walls to commemorate the life and service of our nation's veterans.
Greg Schlieve, commander of the American Legion Post 73 in Sunnyside, said the plaza now has 24 walls and is the largest veterans memorial in the Northwest, which has long been the goal of the project. And there's plenty of room for more walls.
More than 800 veterans are now honored on walls at the plaza, as well as related topics including the history of taps, the Declaration of Independence, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Some veterans honored there date back to the Revolutionary War, and some were U.S. allies from the United Kingdom and the Philippines.
All of them, beyond their military service, have another thing in common: someone in community wanted to honor them at Jerry Taylor Veterans Plaza, and made a donation to make it happen.
Fred Holland, 92, came from Grandview with his neighbor Ardith Carratt to watch the crews install the walls. One will have his name, honoring his service on the front lines during the Korean War.
It was a time of reflection.
"It's an honor," Holland said. "I just feel so fortunate I made it back — I never thought I'd live to see my 22nd birthday."
He was in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill , which came right before the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. He ended his service with the rank of sergeant in the U.S. Army's 7th Infantry Division.
Holland recently finished a memoir about his military service, titled "The Two Lost Years." It was a project that Carratt helped him complete, after they both lost their spouses a few years ago.
"I think it's phenomenal that his name is going to be there," Carratt said. Both Carratt and Holland have met new friends in the community by connecting through veterans groups and events. "It's an ongoing story."
Another onlooker was Jennie Bronkhorst, whose late husband, Cecil Bronkhorst, will be honored on one of the walls. In a full circle moment, his plaque will be right in front of the building where he and Jennie married in 1970.
"I can't believe it's going right where we got married," she said.
A digital kiosk to help people find names and other information will be installed sometime next year, Schlieve said. Local students are helping install an old covered bus stop from Richland which will protect the kiosk.
A Veterans Day service at the plaza is planned at 11 a.m. Nov. 11 on South Ninth St., between East Edison and Franklin avenues in Sunnyside.
