Monument for Alabama ‘fallen warriors’ to be built in Hoover

For more than a decade, Hoover resident Mark Davis has actively worked to recognize and support U.S. military veterans.

Now, he has embarked on a new project to create a permanent monument for all military members from Alabama killed in action in the War on Terror since 9/11, and the city of Hoover has agreed to let it be built on city property at Veterans Park off Valleydale Road.

Davis, a Navy veteran, and retired Marine Col. Lee Busby of Tuscaloosa started a nonprofit in 2017 called the Alabama Fallen Warrior Project.

Their goal was to raise enough money to create bronze busts to honor every military member from Alabama killed while on active duty since 9/11.

There are 221 such warriors, including 115 who were killed in action and 106 who died of non-hostile deaths, such as sickness, accident or suicide, Davis said.

So far, 11 of those busts have been created, and a 12th one is in progress. The idea was to put those busts in a prominent location in each service member’s hometown.

But Davis thought it would be a good idea to also create a single monument where people could see and honor all of the fallen in the same location.

Former Hoover resident George Winslow, whose Marine son Ryan Winslow was killed in Iraq in 2006, created an exhibit that showed the faces of all those from Alabama who were killed in the War on Terror, and took it around the state as a traveling exhibit periodically.

But Winslow and his wife moved out of state to be closer to family, and that exhibit now is in storage with a national “Remembering Our Fallen” organization in Utah.

Davis wants to create a permanent monument in Alabama. He first discussed the possibility of putting it at American Village in Montevallo, but a suitable location could not be found.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato then offered to let it be built at Veterans Park off Valleydale Road.

The plan is to put the monument on a spot along Jaguar Drive that is between the developed part of Veterans Park and Spain Park High School.

The monument would include 120 white cylindrical columns, lined up in 11 rows with 11 columns on each row except one in the middle being replaced by a U.S. flag 60 to 80 feet in the air.

The columns, each 10 inches in diameter, would form a square that is roughly 75 square feet, Davis said.

The columns would be 10 feet tall, with about 3 feet buried in the ground for stability, leaving about 7 feet of each column above ground, he said.

Each column would have a 3-by-6- inch stainless steel or bronze dog tag on it, with the name of the military member, military branch, and the date and location of their death.

During the daytime, as the sun moves across the sky, the flag in the middle should cast a shadow on the columns, Davis said.

At night, a light would shine up on the flag and inward from each corner of the monument.

“It’ll look like soldiers standing there at night,” Davis said. “What’s cool about this thing is that everybody driving by on Valleydale Road would see this.”

Davis estimates the monument would cost $130,000 to $175,000 to build, but he expects a lot of that could be accomplished with in-kind donations.

The mayor indicated the city could participate with in-kind donations, and Shelby County Manager Alex Dudchock has expressed an interest in the county assisting, he said.

When the Veterans Memorial Arbor was built at Aldridge Gardens, monetary donations totaled about $135,000, and the city contributed about $200,000 worth of in-kind donations, Davis said.

He has faith that the rest of the money needed for the new monument at Veterans Park will be donated.

“We’re moving along. The money will come in. I don’t beg people for money,” Davis said. “We’ll get it in one way or another.”

Davis already has been working with Tim Westhoven, the city’s chief of operations, to develop a project timeline.

The first step is getting a topography map and boundary surveys, and Davis was hoping to have core soil samples drilled out by the end of December.

An early projected timeline includes a groundbreaking on Memorial Day weekend of 2020 and having the project completed and ready for a dedication ceremony on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 on Sept. 11, 2021. That’s a Saturday, so children will be out of school and able to attend, Davis said.

There are already parking spaces carved out along Jaguar Drive that could be used for handicapped parking for the monument, and other people could park in the existing parking lot at Veterans Park, he said.

He envisions a pathway leading from the parking lot to the monument, and some of the bronze busts of military members that don’t find a home in the service members’ hometown could be placed along the path.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said this sounds like an incredible project to honor those who have served and died while protecting our country.

Davis said the men and women who would be honored there come from all over the state, were ages 18 to 54 when they died, and represented all of the branches of the military, with ranks ranging from private to majors.

He just wants to make sure they are never forgotten.

For more information or to donate toward the monument, go to alabamafallenwarriorsproject.org or contact Mark Davis at 205-266-0632.