Community Park selected as Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial site

By Ryne Turke on August 24, 2016 at 7:39am

A section of land in Jacksonville has been dedicated as the future site of the Morgan County Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial.

Tyson Manker, Secretary of the Morgan County Iraq Afghanistan Memorial Group, says the monument will be placed in Community Park. Manker says the site features “beautiful shade trees”, is close to the soccer fields and in walking distance from the Korean and World War II memorials.

“We met with some of the individuals working for the City, including Kelly Hall. Our plan is to, in time, hopefully move all the memorials to this one area. That includes the two in Nichols Park and the Gulf Storm Memorial at the entrance of the park. We are going to try and get everything into a centralized location,” says Manker.

Manker says the memorial could realistically take years to build. The Morgan County Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial Group was founded in June by local veterans and passionate community members.

Go online to mciam.org or the Morgan County Iraq/Afghanistan Memorial Group’s Facebook and Twitter pages for more information.

An online registry, where veterans can sign up for the memorial, will open soon.