Campbell Veterans Memorial Moves Forward

Things are moving along with at the site of the future Campbell Veterans Memorial.

Nearly six years in, bricks at the memorial honoring those that served, both living and dead, are being engraved and installed.

"Curt Walton (the brick engraver) came up with the idea of sandblasting and painting the bricks off-site and then replacing the wet ones that are in the memorial site with the new ones," said Campbell Veterans Memorial Foundation Chair Jim Free. "It's working great." 

More than 120 new bricks have been installed at the memorial, including those from "Seal Team Six," which Cisco sponsored for Ken Estep, Free says.

There had been a stall in the engraving and installation of the bricks since the foundation began back in November due to a change in contractor and the wet weather.

There had also been a computer glitch, Free says, that left some bricks without being engraved.

"At this point I think (hope) we are caught up with all of those bricks that have been ordered to date and I will be notifying a lot of people that their brick is now in place," he says.

There have been about 400 bricks sold to-date with an estimated 8,000 total planned as part of the memorial.

When completed, the Campbell Veterans Memorial site will include a plaza area, a fountain surrounded by U.S. Military service flags, a time line wall of major U.S. conflicts and a larger wall that will encompass an existing olive tree called "The Tree of Peace."

The area surrounding the Tree of Peace is designed to create a contemplative area to reflect on the lives of individuals who have sacrificed their lives in the conflicts over the years.

The memorial will also have an elaborate water system built in to the historical conflict wall.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $650,000, of which about $250,000 has been completed. Of this, Free says $120,000 was pro-bono.

Bricks honoring veterans and still serving soldiers can be purchased via the memorial's website. Servicemembers do not have to be residents of Campbell to have a brick at the site. Donations are also welcome, along with donations "in kind," such as pro-bono electrical work.

To read more about the the progress of the Campbell Veterans Memorial, click here.

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