UW 9-20-17
A rededication ceremony for the Veterans Memorial Plaza at the University of Wyoming’s War Memorial Stadium is Saturday, Sept. 23, at 10 a.m.
The entire plaza is being rededicated to honor all Wyoming veterans who have served and died since the Spanish-American War to the present.
Parking for the ceremony will be available on the north side of the Indoor Practice Facility.
“The original plaza was built and dedicated in 1999 to honor those who had served in the 20th century. This plaza will be for posterity,” says John Hursh, retired Riverton attorney and Marine Corps veteran who now lives in Laramie.
Two years ago, when it became apparent that the new High Altitude Performance Center was going to be built in War Memorial’s north end zone, UW Athletics Director Tom Burman asked a group of military veterans to locate and design the relocation of the Veterans Memorial Plaza.
The new location is between the Indoor Practice Facility and the High Altitude Performance Center.
The chairman of the group was Larry Barttelbort, who was the Wyoming Veterans Commission director at the time. Funding for the memorial project was budgeted into the High Altitude Performance Center project by the Wyoming Legislature, and it was completed last fall.
Hursh, a UW graduate who does volunteer legal work for the UW military veteran students through the UW Veterans Services Center, says in case of inclement weather, the dedication ceremony will be moved into the Indoor Practice Facility.
Gov. Matt Mead and UW President Laurie Nichols will give remarks during the ceremony.
Mead, Nichols and Bob Willis, a retired Laramie dentist who served in World War II, will unveil the “Soldier’s Cross” statue, which is done in the World War II motif. Willis was wounded in combat during the Battle of the Bulge while serving under Gen. George Patton.
John Savry, a Laramie bagpiper, will play “Amazing Grace” after the unveiling. Full military honors will follow.