Honoring our vets and especially medal of honor heroes is most important. No disagreement at all. Thank you to all the people working on a Chattanooga memorial for America's veterans.
But I feel the proposed design and location are just "ordinary" at best. Another Greek style building? Please say no to that. A site that does not have great traffic of visitors? And one that takes green space? Please say no to that.
Veterans and Chattanooga needs a "great" memorial. One that honors those who sacrificed. Need an architecture that inspires the visitors to focus on those to whom Coolidge Park is dedicated. Need a site and building that will be iconic like the Tennessee Aquarium. Note how the Hunter Museum reflects the evolution of styles and is another iconic Chattanooga attraction.
Another example: the Vietnam memorial which, to me, is sacred because it simply lists the 58,307 soldiers and provides space for all to come silently and honor those whom made the ultimate sacrifice.
With possibly $8 million available, why not use part of the building that was to be used for a Chattanooga History Museum for the memorial/museum, with a wall of plaques on the outside. And, brainstorming, expand the stage in Coolidge Park by adding large plaques emphasizing that the park is dedicated to America's vets. On the July 4 concerts, the names on the plaques should be spoken during a time of meditation.
Please do not settle for an "ordinary" memorial for those that deserve a "great" memorial.
Robert Dreyer
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I agree with Mr. Robert Dreyer’s plea to make sure any Medal of Honor Museum built in Chattanooga is truly great. One only has to read about some of those so honored to understand they were truly incredible individuals whose stories should be properly told. Chattanooga certainly has a rich tradition with the award.
But before I go further, let’s please don’t call them Medal of Honor “winners.” There are no winners in the sacrifices they made to achieve such recognition.
One MOH recipient was a young man from Wisconsin named Arthur MacArthur. At the age of 17, Arthur was commissioned as a lieutenant in a Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. During the Civil War in 1863 he led his troops up Missionary Ridge where he planted the regiment’s flag while shouting, “On Wisconsin!” Probably most of those who attend Wisconsin football games today and make the same exclamation have no idea it started with young MacArthur exhorting his troops. Later, Arthur found himself at the November 1864 Battle of Franklin where he received several wounds in the center of the fighting. Unlike many who receive MOH recognition, he survived. And it is a good thing he did because in 1880 he had a son, Douglas MacArthur, who went on to make history of his own in World War II. Douglas and his father are one of two father and son pairs to be awarded our nation’s highest honor. Teddy Roosevelt and Teddy Roosevelt Jr. are the others.
Citations of all these heroes from the Civil War to our current day conflicts can easily be found on the internet. I challenge the citizens and leaders of Chattanooga to read some of these and settle for nothing less than a “great museum.”
Gregory L Wade
Franklin, Tenn.
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As a veteran, historian and citizen of Hamilton County, there is no better place to locate the Charles Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center than in the small corner of Coolidge Park.
The most compelling argument is that the Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center will serve the public of the county, state and nation as a tangible center to explain and inform the virtues of the Medal of Honor as our nation's highest award. It is a statement of Chattanooga's pride in their veterans and the sacrifices made to protect our freedoms. The Medal of Honor award symbolizes the best and most virtuous acts performed by its citizen soldiers.
Today there are less than 80 living recipients of the award. We are blessed to have one of them in our city. As the birthplace of the Medal, awarded to Andrews Raiders for their heroic actions representing the Union Army during the Civil War and subsequently to 33 more brave American soldiers who camped in Chattanooga and distinguished themselves at Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, there is no more sacred ground for the Heritage Center. Locating the facility in the public park named in honor of Chattanooga's own recipient to honor him and all veterans is the most appropriate site.
This will not be a museum per se, it will be a center for the outreach and education of our young Americans and visitors to our city. No other place in America possesses the soil upon which these deeds were done. There has been only one woman to be so decorated for such heroism in times of war, Dr Mary Walker, of Chattanooga. Surely we need a place for these stories to be remembered and told. We should be proud. We should be Chattanooga Strong.
Heritage tourism is the fastest growing and most stable type of tourism in our nation as visitors seek to learn and see history. The Heritage Center will provide the informational hub for providing the materials to enhance the visitor's experience. Today, the visitor does not seek the "Disney type manufactured history," but instead, the real grounds and places where the events occurred. The Civil War was the cauldron in which America was forged yet the center is not an homage to it, but rather to the veterans and bravery of all wars of our nation. The Heritage Center will be a central vista extolling the virtues of self sacrifice, honor, character, bravery and courage when faced with opposition- our nation's most sacred ideals. The Coolidge Heritage Center will be a very cost effective way in the park location to dispense these stories and virtues.
The building is not meant to aggrandize war of any type, but to remember the nobility shown by citizen's who overcame odds and risked life and limb to preserve our democracy. It will be a beautiful building, a quiet place in keeping with the purpose of parks, to educate and enhance the visitor's experience. It is a place for reflection of those extraordinary people who overcame all the personal self serving traits for the good of the nation. It is meant to be modest in size in keeping with the park. It architecture is reflective of Thomas Jefferson's memorial. It should be a place of immense pride for all Chattanoogans.
Chattanooga is called on to show its greatness and the importance of its heritage by supporting the Charles Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center to be located in a public space already dedicated to Mr Coolidge.
Our park is a grand place, housing a fountain for children to play, a merry go round that never was part of Chattanooga, and the Walnut Street Bridge. The Little Theater is nearby. The Walnut Street bridge provides access to walkers of all types and ties the park to the city. Now is the time for the city to tie its heritage to the park by approving the lease of a tenth of a acre to the Coolidge Medal of Honor Heritage Center.
I chose to make my public plea to the city officials and public on behalf of the over 25,000 veterans living in Hamilton County and myself in honor of those 58,000 men and women of my 10 year war, Vietnam, who did not return.
I end with a quote from a brave leader I was fortunate to serve under, Lt. General Hal Moore, "For the soldier who has survived war, there is no closure. He has a duty, a sacred obligation, to remember those who fell beside all his days and to bear witness to the insanity that is war."
Bud Alley
Signal Mountain
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What a wonderful way to cap off Coolidge Park with the Medal of Honor Heritage Center to honor all veterans. I understand the original idea for the park was to be a veterans park. At 22 or 23 acres at the beginning, and now it is down to 13 acres, and nothing says veterans except Charles H. Coolidge’s name. It is the right time and the right place.
I attended the meeting at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre and all they asked for is 4,000 square feet in a unused area of the park. For the veterans who protect our great nation I do not believe building this Medal of Honor Heritage Center is too much to ask.
City Council, vote yes and lets get it done before Mr. Coolidge passes on.
Vincent Patterson
Signal Mountain