After years of discussion, an Orangeburg Veterans Memorial is one step closer to becoming a reality as City Council has approved further study of the site location.
Council approved due diligence including engineering, soil and drainage work to begin on the proposed site located on Riverside Drive between Russell Street and John C. Calhoun Drive.
The proposed location is across the street from the Orangeburg Chamber of Commerce and is a city-owned property.
Site work aims to ensure the location will be able to hold the monuments.
“I am thrilled that we are finally beginning to move at a quicker pace than we were,” Orangeburg Mayor Paul Miller said. “I am hopeful we can get this done in the next year. It has been a long time coming.”
Preliminary plans are for the memorial to have an approximately 40-foot obelisk, a reflection pool, benches, memorial pavers and landscaping.
The memorial could also include stone slabs representing each war from the Revolutionary War to modern conflicts, adorned with the names of all who perished for freedom, a short synopsis of the conflict, its duration and reason for it. Space would be left for future conflicts.
Discussions have also included the possibility of including flags representing all the armed services.
“In time it will be a beautiful little area ... to sit down and reflect,” Miller said.
Miller said he hopes the project will go out to bid in February, with project completion targeted during the fall of 2009.
Orangeburg-based Summers & Associates is the project architect and ERC Engineering is doing the engineering work.
Currently, $375,000 is already available in penny tax revenues -- $250,000 from the city and $125,000 from the county -- for the monument. The project was included in the 1-cent sales tax referendum that voters passed in November 2004.
The entire project is estimated to cost about $500,000.
Retired Air Force Senior Master Sgt. Bill Salley expressed his appreciation at council’s site selection.
“I think it is an excellent selection,” he said. “It will be visible from U.S. 301 and the Edisto Memorial Gardens.”
Salley, the commander of the Orangeburg County Veterans Council, said the monument is much needed in order to recognize those men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country’s freedoms.
“It is important we remember our veterans,” he said.
In an effort to help make this dream a reality, the OCVC plans to start a campaign to raise money for the monument.
The campaign will most likely begin when the project goes out to bid.
Salley said individuals would be able to purchase paving bricks to honor their loved ones for about $100 to $125 a piece. The bricks will be engraved with veterans’ names, the war they served in and their branch of service. The bricks would be laid at the memorial site.
The fund-raising goal is $100,000 and would go toward the purchase of the property and construction of the memorial.
Korean War veteran Vic Fenton approached City Council about nine years ago about building a memorial.
“I am delighted by the spot,” Fenton said. “This is one of the spots the veterans have picked out.”
Fenton said the memorial will be for all people and for the entire county to appreciate. He said it will also be an educational opportunity for future generations.
“It is so difficult for a school teacher to take a class out there to educate children about the men and women who fought and lost their lives in war,” he said.
The city had looked at a few sites near Centennial Park in Edisto Memorial Gardens and property on Russell Street -- but these two locations fell through due to their inability to accommodate the scope of the project.
As it stands now, the memorial at the Lady Fountain at the entrance of Edisto Memorial Gardens has names of the dead from only three wars -- World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
The new memorial would honor veterans of all wars, from all branches of the military.
T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551.