The East Tennessee Veterans Memorial tribute announced in late January by Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale, City of Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, and Colonel Bill Felton of The East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association will honor nearly 6,000 veterans from across 35 East Tennessee counties who died in conflicts from World War I to present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Names will be listed by conflict and by county within those conflicts. The 14 Medal of Honor winners from East Tennessee will also be inscribed and honored.
The memorial, designed to honor, remember, educate and inspire, will be a formation of 32 granite monuments and include a public plaza and a Veterans History Center, that through various mediums, will illustrate American conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The Veterans History Center will be developed adjacent to the Memorial in a historic building next to the historic L&N Railroad Station. The Center will chronicle the lives and service of those who died, those who lived, those who now serve, and those who will serve in the future and every East Tennessee veteran will be entitled to an electronic file in the Center. As an attraction, dog tags bearing the name of one of the fallen veterans will be issued to Center visitors who will be able to view on screen (either on an individual computer or in the theatre) the photograph and story of that hero. The Center will also include a theatre and several films about the contributions of East Tennessee veterans and the 14 medal of honor winners.
The East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association also recently announced its partnership with the University of Tennessee's prestigious Center for the Study of War and Society which will research and verify the names to be inscribed on the memorial as well as assist with further oral histories, focusing specifically on East Tennessee counties not currently represented in their archives.
The goal of the entire Veterans Memorial project is to provide visitors with information highlighting the rich history of East Tennessee's veterans and their significant impact on the nation's defense through the decades in hopes of preserving the glory and honor the brave and valiant spirit of East Tennessee's military men and women. "Many men and women have stepped forward, acting with honor, decency and resolve to protect this nation that we all love. While we can never repay those, and the families of those, who have sacrificed their lives to deliver the promise of liberty abroad and preserve it at home, we must make every effort to show these heroes and their families that we are not unappreciative of the great things they have done for this country," said Mayor Ragsdale.
At the request of Mayor Ragsdale, Commission appropriated $1.25 million, Congress approved $475,000, the City of Knoxville provided the land and a remaining balance of $3 million through a private fund drive to erect the East Tennessee Veteran's Memorial on a grassy plot at the northern end of Knoxville's Worlds Fair Park. The total estimated cost of the memorial project is $4.7 million, $2.2 million for the physical memorial and $2.5 million for the Veterans History Center, including an endowment.
The 35 counties included in the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial project are Anderson, Bledsoe, Blount, Bradley, Campbell, Claiborne, Carter, Cocke, Cumberland, Fentress, Grainger, Greene, Hancock, Hamilton, Hamblen, Hawkins, Jefferson, Johnson, Knox, Loudon, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Polk, Rhea, Roane, Scott, Sequatchie, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, Union and Washington.
The Memorial itself was designed by architect Lee Ingram of the Knoxville firm Brewer Ingram Fuller. Access Museum Services of Nashville has been retained by ETVMA as consultants for the development of this project. Future expansions would include meeting and conference facilities, permanent, museum-type exhibits and space for rotating exhibits.
