Denton Adds Walk Of Honor To Veterans Memorial Park
DENTON (CBSDFW.COM) - For the families of fallen servicemen, the pain of sacrifice they made never gets easier.
"You always hear, it will get better. It doesn't," said Phyllis Broomfield, a mother who lost her son, Lt. Johnny Craver, in 2006, in an IED explosion just outside Baghdad.
But memorials like the Walk of Honor at the Spc. Ernest W. Dallas Jr. Veterans Memorial Park in Denton, is making coping a bit easier.
The Walk of Honor is the latest part to be added to the first Veterans Memorial Park in Denton. Concrete pedestals were built, with donated labor from the city of Denton, each with a plaque with a picture and story of a fallen Denton County serviceman.
Nineteen servicemen who sacrificed their lives in Operation Desert Storm in the early 90's and the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be honored. So far, 10 pedestals have been erected.
Vietnam Veteran Monty Slough, director of the Denton County Fallen Soldiers Memorial, was behind the push to create the park and now the Walk of Honor.
"If we can build parks for people with money we can build parks for people who have lost their life for this country," said Slough.
For Slough, it's important to honor every soldier that made the ultimate sacrifice.
For families, the park has become a place to grieve and honor their loved ones.
"You can go out to military cemeteries but it's not like, you know, getting to see their pictures. For people that didn't know him, now they can see a face with a name," Broomfield said.
Broomfield's son left behind 3 young children. Now she plans to bring her grandchildren to the park to honor their father.
"Everyone should have a chance to see the soldiers, not see them come out of an airplane in a casket. That was the last kind of memory I had of my son," said Broomsfield.
The Walk of Honor is giving her a chance to build new memories with the son she calls a hero.
"Oh I think it's great. I'm so proud of it," she said.
The remaining 9 concrete pedestals will be finished next week and the first phase of the Walk of Honor will be complete.
More pedestals will be added should more servicemen be killed.
