The City of Grafton, Illinois, unveiled plans for a new $6 million military memorial on Wednesday to be constructed on the east end of town.
The National Memorial of Military Ascent will be built into the Mississippi River community’s cliffs and will include an interactive museum and plaza next to the city’s visitors center, said Mayor Michael Morrow.
“This isn’t just going to be a memorial for Grafton,” Morrow said. “It’s going to be a memorial for the region.”
Veterans, including Morrow, make up 17% of the town's population — the most per capita of any Illinois town.
As of Wednesday, the city has raised around $130,000 for the project. In order to make the project happen in four years, the city and other organizations helping with the project will need to stay on top of their fundraising efforts and possibly look for state or federal grants, Morrow said.
The cliff portion of the new memorial will be built to resemble Pointe du Hoc, a famous cliff located between the two D-Day beaches where American troops landed during World War II.
Morrow, a retired Navy colonel, drew inspiration for the projects from his many trips back to Normandy. After returning to Grafton, he noticed the cliffs' resemblance to the Pointe du Hoc cliffs and thought this would be a unique project.
“From there, it just took off,” Morrow said.
The project later received support from a French community near the Normandy beaches. Last December, Morrow’s plans won approval from the City Council, which created a commission to lead the endeavor.
At the top of the Grafton cliff, there will be a “pill box,” or bunker, designed to look like the German fortifications waiting for Allied troops as they landed in June 1944. There will also be bronze statues, depicting Army Rangers, climbing the limestone wall.
The museum, a 2,500-square-foot space, will have both permanent and rotating exhibits. The plaza will have five pillars representing each branch of the U.S. military, according to the project’s architect, Jamie Henderson of Edwardsville.
One of organizations helping with the project, the Great Rivers & Routes Tourism Bureau based in Alton, is spearheading a multimillion-dollar redevelopment for Piasa Park just 15 miles down the Great River Road that runs parallel to the Mississippi.
“Once these two projects are completed, both projects are going to bring travelers from all over the world,” said Cory Jobe, the president and CEO of Great Rivers & Routes.
Both Jobe and Morrow said the new venue, when complete, will be a great location to honor the area's veterans and also educate the next generation.
“The children that will be passing through here, the thousands of busloads of kids that will visit and learn about our history, we'll be right here in Grafton and right here in southwest Illinois,” Jobe said.
That sentiment was shared by Melvin Johnson, a 24-year Army veteran who traveled from Wood River to Grafton to see the project’s start.
Even as someone who served in the Gulf War in the 1990s, Johnson said it was hard for him to comprehend the stories his dad, a World War II veteran, told. He said he hopes the memorial can help explain the important history.
“All these projects that are going on right now I 100% support,” Johnson said. “It’s going to give young ones a better idea of what actually happened.”
