Group aims new project at commemorating all service members

Tacoma’s War Memorial Park's new project to include county veterans
Memorial park expansion: Group aims new project at commemorating all service members

SCOTT FONTAINE; The News Tribune
Published: 08/02/09

Organizers who helped create a monument for Pierce County residents who were prisoners of war or went missing in action at Tacoma’s War Memorial Park have launched a new project to honor a much broader group: a monument for all the county’s service members.

Joseph Zelazny, a Tacoma resident and chairman of the committee working to create the veterans memorial, said the other monuments at the park at Sixth Avenue and McArthur Street can be exclusive.

The new project, he said, would honor anyone who has worn the uniform – soldier, sailor, airman or marine.

“Look at the World War II memorial: It’s nice, but a double-amputee who died in 1947 from his wounds can’t make it on the wall,” said Zelazny, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. “We want to honor anyone who served in peace or war, alive or dead.”

And the group hopes to erect a life-size statue of Marine Maj. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, a flying ace who shot down 26 enemy aircraft and spent 20 months as a prisoner of war. He later received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. Boyington grew up in Idaho and Tacoma.
read more here
http://www.thenewstribune.com/local/story/831343.html