Community comes together for Veterans Park

Janesville memorial fills a void
A memorable dedication for memorial

By Mark Fischenich
Free Press Staff Writer

JANESVILLE —
Veterans Park has been a fixture in Janesville for decades, but local veterans always thought something important was missing, said Mark Slama, a Vietnam veteran and member of the local American Legion.


In March of 2008, they decided to do something about it.

“The guys at a meeting decided, ‘How come we’re not getting a memorial built?’” Slama said. “And we checked what it would take to do it.”

As it turned out, all it took was to ask the people of Janesville.

“The people here in the community made the memorial happen,” Slama said. “No one has ever said no to us.”

The result was a handsome six-sided memorial, designed for free by retired Milwaukee architect Harold Krueger. Projected to cost $75,000, area contractors were so generous with their bids that costs came in at less than $60,000.

And when it came time to dedicate the new memorial, the community of 2,200 came out in droves. They filled the 400 chairs set up by the Minnesota National Guard for the 10 a.m. event Saturday, and a similar number sat in lawn chairs or stood around the park.

The community also worked to make the dedication ceremony a memorable one. A local woman whose father was a Merchant Marine, for instance, had a contact with the National Eagle Center in Wabasha.
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