UT-Battelle will contribute $25,000 to a new East Tennessee Veterans Memorial planned for the northern end of World's Fair Park in Knoxville.
The memorial will include a formation of 32 granite monuments inscribed with names of more than 6,000 veterans from 35 East Tennessee counties who have died in military service since the beginning of World War I. A special monument at the site will bear the names of the 14 Medal of Honor recipients from East Tennessee.
The memorial is tentatively scheduled to be dedicated Nov. 11, 2008 -- next Veterans Day.
The UT-Battelle gift was announced today during a special Veteran's Day observance at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy.
"The East Tennessee Veterans Memorial honors those from this area who served their country and in many cases paid the ultimate sacrifice in helping to assure our continued freedom as a people," said Brenda Hackworth, UT-Battelle's director of Community Outreach.
Frank Akers - ORNL's associate laboratory director for National Security and a member of the board of directors of the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial Association -- said the site will serve as a reminder to future generations of East Tennesseans of their ancestor's contributions through military service.
"The memorial stands as an example of our great heritage as the Volunteer State," Akers said. "The volunteers honored by this structure exemplify the unselfish service of all Tennesseans since our earliest days."
Other features of the memorial area will be a 50-foot flagpole and a 27-foot high bell tower. A Veterans History Center is also planned adjacent to the memorial next to the historic L&N Railroad station.
The center will chronicle the lives of many East Tennessee veterans throughout the nation's history. It will include a theater, conference facilities, permanent exhibits and space for rotating and traveling exhibits.
The entire East Tennessee Veterans Memorial project is projected to cost $4.7 million with $2.2 million for the memorial and $2.5 million for the history center.
More information is available by calling Kimberly Lauth at 865-633-8337 or go to the web site at: http://www.etvma.org/