Work Continues on Veterans Memorial Plaza

Construction work has been booming at the Veterans Memorial Plaza, as the park in the heart of Apalachicola prepares to welcome a home-grown tribute to the men and women who went off to war from the many towns and hamlets throughout the southeastern United States.

Already the concrete base is in place that will support the black granite pedestal at the foot of a 7' by 8' detail from the Three Servicemen Statue at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

Workers from Gulf Asphalt out of Panama City, which is donating its services, have been busy transforming the city block at the foot of the Orman House, along Market Street between Avenue G and I.

City and county trucks have brought in truckloads of rich brown dirt from the county dump site near the airport to blanket the area.

"They hit the ground working," said Jimmy Mosconis, who has been busy each day monitoring the project.

Business support such as Gulf Asphalt's has been instrumental in Mosconis' effort over the last seven years, in which he has labored to raise more than $400,000 in grants and donations to bring a replica here of the late sculptor Frederick Hart's Three Servicemen Statue, the only one outside of Washington.

Harbor Electric has donated electrical lighting, and Harry Arnold plans to pay for a 30' or 35' flagpole, just two of the many donors who continue to support the project.

Suncoast Landscaping, out of Port. St. Joe, is handling the landscaping. The firm is co-owned by Jessica and Nadine Lee, whose husband died not long ago of an illness he contracted while fighting in Vietnam.

Jessica Lee said she is creating a low-maintenance park, which could feature such trees as wax myrtles, live oaks, tupelo, drake elms, holly and crepe myrtles, shrubs such as Indian hawthorns, dwarf azaleas, lantana and yupon holly, flowers such as African iris and yellow irises, and grasses such as love grass or St. Augustine grass.

"Stuff that's going to stay green all year," said Jessica Lee.

The granite pedestal, which weighs eight to 10 tons, has been carved in Alberton, GA and arrangements are being made to have FedEx transport the statue from the Elliott Gantz foundry in Farmingdale, NY.

A 400' sidewalk along the west side of Market Street has been eliminated from the plans, Mosconis said, although a 42' fence will run along that frontage. Also scrapped from the initial designs is a bridge that would span a drainage swale and connect the Memorial Plaza to the grounds of the Orman House.

Following its completion later this year, the Park Service will manage Veterans Memorial Plaza, along with the adjacent Chapman Botanical Gardens, as part of the Orman House Historic State Park.

Attorney Nick Yonclas, who represents the non-profit foundation that has engineered the project, said details are now being worked out between the city and state on a long-term lease. Because maintaining a statue can require ongoing expertise, the state has indicated that it would prefer the non-profit foundation be responsible for that specific task.

A specific date, possibly as early as the end of June, will soon be set for the dedication, Mosconis said. He said representatives of the American Legion Riders Chapter 356, the Vietnam Veterans and Legacy Veterans motorcycle clubs, all of Panama City, have pledged to be on hand.

Mosconis said he is working on coordinating logistics and in getting dignitaries to attend the dedication.