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More than 200 people gathered at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, for the unveiling of the Veterans Memorial Arbor and Pentagon Gateway Plaza.
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Navy veteran Mark Davis talks about the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, at the arbor's unveiling on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Members of the Howlin' Mad Smith Detachment of the Marine Corps League salute during the national anthem during a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Elected officials cut the ribbon at the ribbon cutting for the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. From left are Hoover Councilmen Casey Middlebrooks, Joe Rives, John Greene and Jack Wright; Hoover Councilman-elect Derrick Murphy, Hoover Mayor-elect Frank Brocato, Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington and Councilmen Jack Natter and John Lyda.
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More than 200 people gathered at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016, for the unveiling of the Veterans Memorial Arbor and Pentagon Gateway Plaza.
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Flags representing each branch of the U.S. military fly above the new Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, right after being raised at the unveiling of the arbor on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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People watch as flags are raised representing each branch of the U.S. military during a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Two men raise the flag for the U.S. Marine Corps during a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Two men raise the flag for the U.S. Navy during a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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The U.S. Coast Guard flag is raised at a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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The U.S. Air Force flag is raised during a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Two men salute the flag of the U.S. Marines during a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Elected officials watch as flags of the U.S. military branches are raised at a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Tynette Lynch, the CEO of Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, welcomes guests to a ceremony for the unveiling of the Veterans Memorial Arbor in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Tynette Lynch, CEO of Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, welcomes people to a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at the gardens on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Members of the Howlin' Mad Smith Detachment of the Marine Corps League salute during the national anthem at a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Members of the Howlin' Mad Smith Detachment of the Marine Corps League were among more than 200 guests at a ceremony to unveil the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Each column for the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, is dedicated to a veteran.
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More than 200 people gathered at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, for the unveiling of the Veterans Memorial Arbor on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Navy veteran Mark Davis walks across the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, at the ceremony to unveil the arbor on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. Davis spearheaded the planning and fundraising for the arbor.
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Navy veteran Mark Davis spearheaded the planning and fundraising for the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama.
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Bryce Martinez, a 23-year-old senior art student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from Mountain Brook, Alabama, sculpted this bronze bust of Thomas Rivers, a 22-year-old Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010. The bust was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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Bryce Martinez, a 23-year-old senior art student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from Mountain Brook, Alabama, at left, sculpted this bronze bust of Thomas Rivers, a 22-year-old Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010. The bust was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. With him are Rivers' parents, Tom and Charon Rivers, and sister, Rachel Walters.
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Tom and Charon Rivers and their daughter, Rachel Walters, stand with a bronze bust of the Rivers' son, Thomas Rivers, a Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010 at the age of 22. The bust was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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A bronze bust of Thomas Rivers was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. Rivers was a Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010 at the age of 22.
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George and Marynell Winslow stand with a bronze bust of their son, Ryan Winslow, who was a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq in April 2006. The bust was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
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A bronze bust of Ryan Winslow, a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq in April 2006, was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
More than 200 people showed up this morning for the official unveiling of the new Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens.
The stainless steel arbor stretches over the dam that holds the lake at Aldridge and is supported by 16 columns, each dedicated to a different veteran. Every period of war and conflict since World War I is represented on the arbor, said Mark Davis, a U.S. Navy veteran who spearheaded the planning and fundraising for the arbor.
On one end of the arbor is an area with the U.S. flag and flags for five branches of the armed forces, and on the other end is an area called the Gateway Pentagon Plaza, designed to honor Hoover residents killed on active duty.
Aldridge officials plan to cover the arbor with blue wisteria vine and plant red and white knockout roses to provide a red, white and blue theme.
There also will be hybrid grasses along the arbor and crepe myrtles in the Gateway Pentagon Plaza. However, Aldridge officials are waiting for the drought to subside before they install the plants, Davis said.
Davis, speaking to the crowd this morning, said he was excited as a kid on Christmas morning to see the arbor come to fruition.
He hopes it will be a great way to honor those who have served or are currently serving their country in the U.S. military, and he hopes the Gateway Pentagon Plaza can be a place of reflection for the families of those killed in action and others who appreciate their service, he said.
Aldridge and city officials today unveiled bronze busts of two Hoover residents killed in action — Thomas Rivers, a 22-year-old Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010, and Ryan Winslow, a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq in April 2006.
Family members of the two men were present for today’s ceremony.
George and Marynell Winslow, the parents of Ryan Winslow, said their son’s bust was provided not long after his death through a “Bronzes of the Brave” project led by Sam Patterson of Memphis. However, they’ve never really had a good place to display it, George Winslow said.
“It’s been in Ryan’s room, sitting on a table for nine years,” he said.
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George and Marynell Winslow stand with a bronze bust of their son, Ryan Winslow, who was a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq in April 2006. The bust was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
He and his wife said they are very thankful for the city of Hoover and Aldridge Gardens providing a prominent place to display the bust. George Winslow said he has lived a lot of places in his 69 years, but Hoover is the best.
Rivers’ bust was provided by the art department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham through a presidential summer research scholarship given to UAB senior Bryce Martinez, who served as the sculptor.
Martinez, a 23-year-old who graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 2012 but now lives in Irondale, spent several months working on the nearly 100-pound bust this summer and fall and said it was his largest undertaking yet.
Photo by Jon Anderson
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Bryce Martinez, a 23-year-old senior art student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham from Mountain Brook, Alabama, at left, sculpted this bronze bust of Thomas Rivers, a 22-year-old Marine who died in Afghanistan in April 2010. The bust was unveiled as a permanent addition to the Gateway Pentagon Plaza at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016. With him are Rivers' parents, Tom and Charon Rivers, and sister, Rachel Walters.
“It was a great learning experience for professional practices and working with this medium,” he said.
He met several times with Rivers’ mother, Charon Rivers, to make sure the bust resembled her son as closely as possible. “That was the most important part of the project, getting the likeness correct,” Martinez said. “It was a real demanding project, but it was very much worth it.”
Rivers’ parents said Martinez put a lot of work into the bust and did a wonderful job with it.
A third bronze bust is being created to honor Andrew Hand, another Hoover resident who was killed in Afghanistan in July 2010. It is being created by a retired Marine colonel in Tuscaloosa, Lee Busby, and should be cast in December, Davis said.
Rivers’ father, Tom Rivers, said projects such as the bronze busts in the Gateway Pentagon Plaza and the Veterans Memorial Arbor give hope for the future of the United States. It’s great to see people still honoring veterans, he said.
Davis said the Veterans Memorial Arbor was made possible mostly through the donations of individuals.
Photo by Jon Anderson
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Navy veteran Mark Davis talks about the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens in Hoover, Alabama, at the arbor's unveiling on Monday, Nov. 7, 2016.
The original plan for an arbor over the dam was a $17,000 wooden structure, but Davis dreamed bigger and raised more than $130,000 to finance construction of the metal arbor. Including in-kind donations of materials and labor, the total cost for the arbor is about $250,000, he said.
The arbor and its columns were built by Robinson Iron, the Alexander City company that restored the Vulcan statue atop Red Mountain in Birmingham. But the Public Works Department for the city of Hoover poured the concrete base for the arbor, anchored the bolts and installed the arbor.
Davis thanked officials from the city of Hoover and Aldridge Gardens for their support and assistance with the project. The Hoover Beautification Board and Heatherwood Garden Club provided money for the landscaping, and the staff at Aldridge made the project a reality, he said.
