Photo by Erin Nelson.
Mark Davis, founder and CEO of Vettes4Vets, greets guests at the second annual Salute to Veterans Ball in November 2019 at the Finley Center.
A plan to build a monument at Hoover’s Veterans Park off Valleydale Road to honor all military members from Alabama killed in action in the War on Terror since 9/11 has hit a roadblock and sent the organizer looking for another location.
For the past three years, Hoover resident and Navy veteran Mark Davis has been trying to line up support and funding to build an Alabama Fallen Warriors monument and thought he had it all worked out.
He had secured cooperation from city officials and lined up $337,000 worth of monetary and promised in-kind donations necessary to build the monument and was trying to move the project along, only to find out late last year there are guidelines in place for Veterans Park that don’t match his plan.
The Hoover Veterans Week Celebration Committee in 2007 established guidelines for memorials and commemorative works at Veterans Park.
NO STATUES
The guidelines state that “brick pavers and benches shall be the primary memorial and commemorative works approved for the site.”
Benches are to be reserved only for military members killed in action, as substantiated by a Purple Heart award, and the deceased — or a parent, child or spouse of the deceased — must have been a resident of Hoover at the time of death.
Also, no statues are to be allowed at Veterans Park, according to the guidelines.
The monument Davis wants to build would recognize service members killed in action from anywhere in Alabama — not just Hoover.
And his plan was to erect 120 white cylindrical columns, each 10 inches in diameter, 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 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.
Additionally, Davis’ plan was to allow for bronze busts of those killed in action to be located at the site if their families preferred Hoover’s Veterans Park over a site in the deceased military member’s hometown.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato had voiced support for Davis’ plan but said he originally was unaware of the guidelines put in place in 2007. Most of the people involved in establishing the guidelines are less involved in city government now, and the current chairman of the Hoover Veterans Committee — retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Pocopanni — said he wasn’t aware of the guidelines either until recently.
HOT DEBATE
Former Hoover Councilman Jack Natter, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, was chairman of the Veterans Week Celebration Committee at the time the guidelines were established.
Natter said the committee hotly debated the guidelines and details of the design of the commemorative portion of Veterans Park in 2007 because committee members were highly concerned about maintaining the dignity of the park.
Some people wanted to put tanks and airplanes in the park, but the end consensus was to keep it simple and something designed to focus on Hoover residents, Natter said.
“There was a tremendous amount of time spent in establishing the guidelines,” he said. “They weren’t just put together overnight.”
Additionally, Natter — in an email to Davis in December of last year — noted that the Alabama Veterans Memorial Park on Interstate 459 near Liberty Park honors veterans from Alabama killed in action from World War I to current day. Duplication should be avoided as additions for Hoover’s Veterans Park are considered, Natter said in the email.
Natter, in an interview with the Hoover Sun, commended Davis for what he’s trying to do.
“It’s a wonderful idea, but it’s the wrong location,” he said.
That said, if the current Veterans Committee wants to change the guidelines for Veterans Park, it can do so, Natter said. He just wants the committee to make an informed decision, understanding the thought processes that went into developing them, he said.
City Administrator Allan Rice said Davis’ idea is magnificent and a wonderful tribute to the group of veterans he seeks to honor and said no one has told Davis he absolutely can’t build the monument there.
However, Rice and Brocato said they want to be very sensitive to the original intent of Veterans Park. They told Davis he needs to get the Veterans Committee, of which Davis is a member, and the Hoover Parks and Recreation Board, which oversees Veterans Park, to approve the plan.
Pocopanni, chairman of the Veterans Committee, said he has been working on proposed amendments to the original guidelines that would allow the Alabama Fallen Warriors monument to proceed, but developing those amendments is taking some time. His plan is to present the proposed changes to the committee for its consideration and let the committee vote on it, he said.
LOOKING ELSEWHERE
Davis said he’s been waiting a long time and believes his effort to get the monument built at Hoover’s Veterans Park is dead.
“I can’t get an answer out of anybody about why we’re not doing it,” he said. “I just feel like I’ve wasted three years.”
About $10,000 has already been spent on design work, and much effort went into getting funding and in-kind donations lined up from the city of Hoover, Shelby County and other companies and groups working with the Alabama Fallen Warriors Project, Davis said.
“I’m not angry at anybody,” he said. “I’m just disappointed and disheartened we’re not doing this here in Hoover.”
Davis has started talking to Alabaster officials about putting the Alabama Fallen Warriors monument at Alabaster’s Veterans Park instead. There is room there, and that location would be just about 4.5 miles north of the Alabama National Cemetery off Alabama 119, where many of those who were killed in action are buried, Davis said.
Alabaster City Administrator Brian Binzer said he met with Davis to hear his proposal but said any discussion about additions to their Veterans Park are very preliminary.
“It’s very new,” Binzer said. “No decision has been made … There are so many details that have to be considered. Ultimately, the decision would be made by the mayor and City Council.”
Davis said he is encouraged by the response he has received thus far in Alabaster and is eager to get the ball rolling.
