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'Walls of Honor' added to Sunnyside Veterans Plaza

Yakima Herald-Republic - 9/30/2016

Sept. 30--SUNNYSIDE -- A decade ago the vision was clear: A plaza along an entire city block with 42 granite walls etched with the names of service men -- alive and dead -- and other service information.

Now, the vision is coming into sharper focus with the recent installation of two additional granite walls, bringing the total number of walls to 10 at the Jerry Taylor Veterans Plaza along Ninth Street between Edison and Franklin avenues.

"As we build this memorial, I think people can feel the significance of what's going on here," said Greg Schlieve, post commander of the local American Legion post. "I think they can feel it emotionally and spiritually that 'hey we've got to get our family here on this memorial."

This past Thursday, two black granite walls standing eight feet tall were installed. Etched in one is the history of the Purple Heart, while the other is scribed with the history of the Combat Infantrymen Badge.

"These two walls that we've just put up are probably the most respected and honored medals that the military awards," he said recently at the memorial plaza. "These two walls we hold pretty sacred. I'd say 85 percent of all those ever killed in combat have been awarded these two medals."

The plaza features several granite walls with the names of veterans, a wall telling the history of the Medal of Honor and another wall explaining the POW/MIA (Prisoner of War and Missing In Action) flags.

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Medals of valor

Purple Heart

A sculpture of an eagle atop a globe is at one end of the plaza, and two walls featuring the names of those from Sunnyside killed in action stand at the other end. Several smaller sculpture of eagles dot the plaza.

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Zach Barr, a driver with Quiring Monuments, left, steadies a 6,000-pound engraved granite wall as Adrian Tapia, manager, lines up the wall over a set of pins while Randy Peters, with City of Sunnyside Public Works Department, operates a crane will installing a pair of walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Adrian Tapia, left, and Zach Barr, employees of Quiring Monuments, watch as a 6,000-pound engraved granite wall is positioned at the veterans plaza by a crane operator in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

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Photos: 'Walls of Honor" added to Sunnyside Veterans Plaza

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016.

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Zach Barr, a driver with Quiring Monuments, left, steadies a 6,000-pound engraved granite wall as Adrian Tapia, manager, lines up the wall over a set of pins while Randy Peters, with City of Sunnyside Public Works Department, operates a crane will installing a pair of walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Adrian Tapia, left, and Zach Barr, employees of Quiring Monuments, watch as a 6,000-pound engraved granite wall is positioned at the veterans plaza by a crane operator in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Buy Now

Crews with Quiring Monuments and the City of Sunnyside Public Works department work to install a pair of 6,000-pound engraved granite walls at the veterans plaza in Sunnyside, Wash. on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (SHAWN GUST/Yakima Herald-Republic)

Named after a former Sunnyside mayor and longtime Legion post commander Jerry Taylor, the plaza measures 400 feet long, 25 feet wide and eventually will be outfitted with a total of 42 granite walls.

Years ago, Taylor spearheaded an effort to locate and document every veteran buried in the city's cemetery. That has allowed area veterans groups to place flags on each grave, some 1,600, in the cemetery every year on Veterans Day.

"Before that, it was just up to the family to go out and put a flag in the grave," Schlieve said.

Donations have largely funded the plaza.

Service members or family of veterans typically pay $300 to have the name of a veteran engraved on the memorial. But the Legion views those payments as donations and is flexible regarding the amounts they accept for an engraving. Some donations have been more than $1,000 while others have been much less than $300, Schlieve said.

One recent family enduring financial hardship was allowed to have the name of a veteran engraved without making any payment, while others have committed to making small monthly payments over a period of time for an engraving.

So far, the plaza has about 480 engravings and raised about $300,000 toward the $1 million project, Schlieve said.

After several years without much traction, the project began taking off a few years ago as the area began to recover from the Great Recession, he said.

"We're starting to have a lot more families buy three plaques, four plaques, eight plaques, nine plaques all at once, for the entire family; both sides of the family," Schlieve said.

Two veterans from Burien, Wash., recently purchased engravings, he said.

"They want to ride their motorcycles over here once a year or so and see their plaques just because there's no place in the state of Washington where you can get a plaque unless you're dead," Schlieve said.

Reporter Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com. Follow him on Twitter at philipferolito@twitter.com

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(c)2016 Yakima Herald-Republic (Yakima, Wash.)

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