WASHINGTON—Veterans with disabilities will soon have a place of honor in the nation’s capital.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and award-winning actor Gary Sinise paid tribute on Wednesday to living disabled veterans and others who lost their lives, in a ground-breaking ceremony for a new memorial in Washington. Scheduled to be completed in 2012, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial will be within view of the U.S. Capitol on a 2.4-acre plot, across from the U.S. Botanic Garden.
Pelosi said there’s significance in singling out the service of disabled veterans. “We take a very specific step in recognizing those that are disabled that still continue to contribute to the strength of America in so many ways, ” she said.
Sinise, the memorial’s spokesman, played a disabled vet in the movie “Forrest Gump” and has taken on the cause because he wants to pay tribute to veterans’ service.
“We cannot give them back their eyes, their ears, pieces of themselves that have been lost, minds that have been altered,” Sinise said. “But we can give them, and we must give them, our respect and our everlasting appreciation.”
Hundreds of others were on hand, just steps away from the Capitol, to explain why the memorial matters. The Disabled Veterans’ LIFE Memorial foundation cofounder, Lois Pope, talked about her experience singing and performing for Vietnam veterans who had just returned home.
“If ever I had the financial means to do more than just visit and entertain,” said Pope, a former Broadway performer, when recalling the encounters that left her longing to do more. “I would do all in my power to honor their service in a more meaningful way.”
It wasn’t until 40 years later that she was able to marshal the resources to help create the now nearly 1.2 million member organization and get the funding for the memorial.
The new memorial will consist of a star-shaped reflecting pool whose surface will be broken slightly to contain an eternal flame. The pool will be surrounded by gingko trees and framed by two glass and granite walls. The walls will feature four bronze sculptures by artist Larry Kirkland that are meant to embody a veteran’s journey through loss, transformation and transcendence.
But for disabled veterans, like Johnnie Baylark Jr., who attended the ceremony, the memorial is more than just a structure. For him, it meant a chance to share with the public the type of sacrifice he and other disabled veterans have made.
“They don’t understand what we have to go through, in part, to have a disability, not just in being a military personnel, but anyone who has a disability,” said Baylark. “We want to be continued to be recognized as veterans.”
Baylark served as a Marine during the war in Vietnam and was medically retired after he lost both his legs. He believes the memorial will speak directly to the more than 3 million veterans living with a disability.
“It has been significant in bringing out the veterans who were not welcomed back properly … to make them realize and feel better about themselves,” said Baylark, who works with disabled vets in Springfield, Ill.