A new chapter in the history of Siouxland Freedom Park was unveiled Wednesday afternoon during the City of South Sioux City’s Finance Committee meeting.
Honoring those who have served during Desert Shield, Desert Storm and the ongoing Global War on Terrorism will be the focus of a new addition to the park. Plans to honor those fighting men and women were announced by Renee LaPierre, president of the park’s Board of Directors.
The planned addition will not only honor those who served during this time period, but serve as an opportunity to educate park goers as to what those who served in those conflicts went through, both during and after the war.
“You know that we have monuments and memorials to honor various things from Vietnam veterans to John (Douangdara) and his dog, who were killed in action,” he said. “Consistent with our theme, not only to honor service members, but to educate the public about the importance of what military members do. We have now fought, long and hard, about how do we continue that mission?”
LaPierre said that veterans who have served in a variety of conflicts are dying, and rather than wait for them all to be gone, they want to work now to honor the service and sacrifice of those who have served in the past four decades worth of conflicts.
“I frankly made it a promise to myself that I didn’t want my family to have to wait to honor the service and sacrifice of all those people, including those who are still suffering today from physical and mental injuries,” LaPierre added.
LaPierre said he had been penciling what the addition might look like before calling on FEH Design out of Sioux City to help with the idea, which will take up a good portion of the northwest part of the park, which is currently vacant.
The initial concept designs include an entrance with guard towers, a makeshift village and other exhibits that will give visitors a real feel for what veterans experienced when they went to war in the region.
“We didn’t roll into cities like Chicago or Detroit,” he said. “We rolled into villages, and this will be a true representation of what it was like go into a city and bang down doors, one after another.”
A timeline for the project and estimated costs were not included in the presentation, but La Pierre feels the project will be supported by the community and those who have supported the park’s birth and growth in the past.
“I understand it takes time, it takes energy, and it takes money,” he said. “And we know that our community in Siouxland has supported this. We certainly intend to seek out grants as much as we can and as we phase in the project, we’ll certainly have an idea in mind of what it will take and who will want to sponsor some of the projects.”
Look for more in the Aug. 13 edition of the Dakota County Star.
