Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Mary Junell | Soldiers with the 429th Concrete Platoon, 105th Engineer Battalion, 130th Manuever...... read more read more
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RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina National Guardsmen are spending their annual training preparing a location for a Gold Star Family Memorial Monument in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 2-16, 2017.
The memorial will be located out side an access gate to the North Carolina National Guard’s (NCNG) Joint Force Headquarters.
The memorial will consist of four granite stones featuring a cut out of a saluting Service Member and a Gold Star. It will sit on a circular slab of concrete with a curved sidewalk, a more decorative shape than the Soldiers of the 429th Concrete Platoon, 105th Engineer Battalion, 130th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade are used to working with.
“It’s definitely nothing I’ve ever done before,” said Sgt. Michael Knight, a concrete asphalt engineer with the 429th. “It’s been a learning process, but you’ve always got to learn to make it work as you go.”
Because the memorial will be outside the security fence around the complex, anyone will be able to visit it at any time, with out having credentials.
“A lot of people are going to see this, and it’s going to mean something,” Knight said. “It’s not just a side walk or something for people to have foot traffic on. People will see it and it will make them think about what has happened, why people still do what they do and thy they join the National Guard.”
The monument will not list any names, even though the North Carolina National Guard has experienced 27 fatalities since 2001 resulting in families earning the distinction of a Gold Star Family.
The Gold Star distinction is given to the surviving family of a Service Member who died in service to our national.
Army Master Sgt. Robert Shook, the non commissioned officer in charge of casualty operations for the NCNG, said the lack of names is one of the key features of the memorial.
“The objective is to be able to stand-up the monument in honor of the families,” Shook said. “This is a demonstration of the ongoing commitment of the North Carolina National Guard to all survivors, particularly the Gold Star Families.”
Shook said that although it is implied that the memorial is specifically for the NCNG’s Gold Star Families, there won’t be any specific wording on the monument. It will be representative of the loss suffered by all military families.
“This is a demonstration of how we’re really putting our foot forward and actually doing something,” he said. “It is really our drive to make sure that they know we remember them.”
A non-profit organization is currently being formed to raise the remaining funds for the memorial. Additional information can be obtained by contacting the NCNG Casualty Assistance Office at (984) 664-6566.
| Date Taken: | 06.08.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 06.28.2017 10:54 |
| Story ID: | 239451 |
| Location: | RALEIGH, NC, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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