Never Forgotten – Kneeling Soldier

Van Zandt County Memorial 11 Years in the Making Nears Completion 

By Julie AndersonEditor

Mission: To create and perpetuate a Memorial that honors the Sons and Daughters of Van Zandt County, Texas, who left to fight for freedom and never returned, with a place of beauty and reverence where families and comrades can find peace in the memory of lost loved ones. To create in all who see this monument an understanding of the magnitude of loss we all share in the name of freedom.

In 1967 at the age of 19, Virgil Melton Jr., U.S. Marine Corps, was stationed in Vietnam as a tank commander. In August 1968, Melton led a sneak attack deep into the DMZ as part of Operation Lam Son 250. Now a Van Zandt County Commissioner, Melton served in the Corps from 1967-1971. Along with the Purple Heart, he received the Navy Commendation Medal for valor after interrupting a rocket-propelled grenade attack on an adjacent tank, saving the crew members and the tank.

In 1960, Dan A. Catania was stationed on the island of Hokkaido in Northern Japan as part of the U.S. Army Security Agency.

“We were assigned to intercept Russian communications that emanated from the Kamchatka Peninsula,” explained Catania. “My job was to analyze those transmissions.”

In 2006, some 35 years after Melton left Vietnam and 44 years after Catania left Japan, both veterans were on the ground floor of plans to create the Van Zandt County Veteran’s Memorial (the Memorial).

In November 2016, the pair will help celebrate the completion of the Memorial with the unveiling of the Never Forgotten Kneeling Soldier, scheduled for Nov. 12, the day after Veterans Day.

“The Memorial is a reminder of the cost of freedom, honoring the men and women who have paid for it with their service to our country,” shared Melton, current director on the board of Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial, Inc., of which Catania serves as chairman.

The county has been a partner in the project since day one, with former Van Zandt County Judge Rhita Koches and current Judge Don Kirkpatrick and the County Commissioners supporting the effort.

From the Beginning

Plans to build the Memorial formed in September 2005 when Ronald “Red” Montgomery, a retired Army National Guard member, approached then-County Judge Rhita Koches with the idea. For months, Montgomery and Koches shared the idea with veterans groups and others in hopes of finding a section of land to house the Memorial.

Eventually, Koches approached the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which agreed to loan 1.5 acres of land at the intersection of State Highways 19 and 243 in Canton. In addition to loaning the property, TxDOT agreed to designate the Memorial a beautification project and pledged to pay for half the cost of construction, take care of the ground preparation, and build all of the concrete foundations and walkways.

The original projected cost in 2006 was $300,000; however, the rise in cost of fuel and material supplies has pushed the cost higher, with a final total of approximately $780,000, Catania reported.

The Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial Foundation was formed by citizens representing area communities, and a commitment was made to fund, construct and maintain the Memorial, Catania detailed. Throughout the past decade, the Memorial Foundation has conducted fundraisers and accepted generous donations from individual organizations to not only construct the Memorial, but to create a perpetual care fund to ensure the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial Plaza (the Plaza) will endure for generations.

Groundbreaking took place in January 2009, and the project is due for completion around Veterans Day of this year with the unveiling of the 11-foot-tall Kneeling Soldier, described by Catania as the “the Memorial’s Keystone.”

“The Kneeling Soldier statue symbolizes the understanding of the magnitude of loss we all share in the name of freedom,” Kirkpatrick declared. “This centerpiece is a lasting tribute to our Armed Forces for future generations to appreciate and admire.”

Respect, Honor, Reverence

The Plaza was designed by a local engineer, Carter W. Clark Jr., who used nature as an overriding theme to develop a concept that would invoke respect, honor and reverence for those who died in service to their country, Catania described.

The center of the Plaza will feature a larger-than-life bronze statue of a Kneeling Soldier guarding a line of granite markers engraved with the names of fallen and missing servicemen and women from Van Zandt County. A granite archway with etchings of the five military seals covers the path entering the center of the Plaza.

A large gazebo near the archway gives respite from the weather and serves as a pavilion for outdoor public events. The edge of the Plaza includes displays of decommissioned military armament, including a jet airplane, helicopter, armored tank, ship’s screw (propeller), and a ship’s anchor, each representing the five branches of the military. The Memorial Plaza design includes flowing lines, curves and winding sidewalks with heavy landscaping, with the American flag flying high above.

U.S. Army Specialist and Iraq veteran Juan Herrera volunteered to be the model for the Kneeling Soldier statue, which is being sculpted by local Canton artist Ed “Pappy” Pickett. Using photographs of Herrera, Pickett allowed the public to be involved in the physical act of modeling the statue to give them an active role in the artistic process.

Several smaller versions of the Kneeling Soldier have been cast in bronze and sold to help raise funds for the Memorial.

A contest was held for students within the Van Zandt County school systems to name the Kneeling Soldier statue. The Foundation awarded a $100 personalized brick for the students in the plaza for naming the statue “Never Forgotten.” Personalized red brick pavers that occupy a prominent place in the center of the Plaza are one of the many fundraisers.

County Involvement and Support

The Van Zandt County Commissioners Court was involved from the very beginning, Catania stated, with then-Judge Koches contacting state officials for assistance.

The county pays the electric bill for all lighting throughout the Plaza and pays for the insurance for the Phantom F-4D fighter jet on loan to the county, Kirkpatrick confirmed.

“I think it’s one of the greatest examples of citizens uniting with government in a common goal with only positive results,” Koches summarized.

“The Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial is one of the best and largest Veterans Memorial in the State of Texas,” Catania emphasized. “The Memorial serves to remind the members of the community of the sacrifices of those who gave their lives for the freedoms and liberties that all citizens enjoy.”

To learn more about the Memorial Plaza, go to http://vzcm.org/ or see the Van Zandt County Veterans Memorial Facebook Page.