Fallen Warriors Memorial

Site work started last week on the Fallen Warriors Memorial, and project organizers say they have reached about 90 percent of their fundraising goal to construct the memorial.
Terry Mayon, co-chairman of the Fallen Warrior Memorial Project, said Friday that organizers are about $12,500 to $15,000 away from reaching their original goal of $150,000 to build the memorial. Marc Distefano is also co-chairman of the project. Prep work at the site located on the grounds of the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium began Tuesday, and construction is set to be finished by Veterans Day.
However, organizers can still use more contributions, Mayon said. “The $150,000 is just what it is going to cost us primarily to put the monument in place,” Mayon said. “On top of that, of course, we would like to try to raise extra funds to set aside as a maintenance and upkeep fund,” Mayon said.
Extra money raised would also provide funding in case any names ever need to be added to the wall of honor, which consists of two large granite blocks behind the statue with all the names of those soldiers who were killed in action or died of wounds while in combat, he said.
Mayon and other organizers started planning for the project in August 2013, he said. “It’s been just over a year,” Mayon said. “I’m really happy about that.”
The overall idea for the memorial is to honor those soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and Coast Guard that died during wartime from World War I to present day, Mayon said. The memorial will also honor those who died during wartime due to accidents and disease, he said.
“World War I we had four guys die from the Spanish flu, which was the great pandemic of that time in 1918,” Mayon said. “We had quite a few die during World War II from different kinds of accidents.”
Diseases also killed soldiers in Vietnam, Mayon said. “All of those people we want to honor,” he said.
Part of the fundraiser for the memorial consists of getting people to donate money to put the names of all the veterans who have ties to Morgan City, Berwick or Patterson, Mayon said. Those bricks will be in the walkway leading up to the monument statues, he said. “That was a way to help raise money, but also a way to honor our guys,” Mayon said.
The memorial is going to be constructed in a pentagon shape outline with three soldiers; a World War I doughboy, a soldier representing World War II, Korea, and Vietnam G.I., and a modern day solider, Mayon said. The middle soldier, dressed in a G.I. uniform, will be kneeling while handing a flag to a young boy to symbolize the soldier’s sacrifice in order to preserve freedom, Mayon said.
“What we’re trying to convey with the monument itself is that they gave that ultimate sacrifice to protect the way we live today,” he said.