KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County is planning a World War II memorial for downtown Kansas City, a $25,000 granite monument that County Executive Phil LeVota unveiled this week as Veterans Day approached. It will go in Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park, near the corner of 12th and Walnut.
The monument will stand about six feet tall on a granite base that visitors can use to leave flowers or other tributes to the men and women who served. The county is paying for it out of its parks budget and has hired Frisbie Monuments, a business in Independence, to design and build it. Work has already begun on the piece.
LeVota said the idea grew out of a gap he found surprising: neither Kansas City nor Jackson County has a memorial devoted specifically to the Second World War. The city is widely known for how it preserves World War I history, and county leaders said they want families of World War II veterans to see that their sacrifice is also remembered. He picked Veterans Day to make the project public.
The schedule calls for the monument to be finished by March, installed in the park, and opened to the public in April.
County officials say they want to put names on the memorial once it is complete, though LeVota said the number of names involved is large and the county is still working out how many it can fit. The monument is meant to serve as a reminder to later generations of what freedoms cost.
Parks crews also intend to dress up the park around it, adding lights, plants, landscaping and seating. Those touches, along with any other amenities, are expected to follow after the memorial itself is in place.
Section: More Kansas City MO politics news
Filed under: Kansas City MO Politics News
