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Groundbreaking planned for veterans memorial

By Diana North, Chronicle Correspondent
27-July-2010

Life-sized statues, granite slabs, flags and heartfelt words etched in stone will be part of the Ring of Honor - Brazoria County's first outdoor memorial to veterans.

"Its completion is some distance away, but we're working on it furiously," said Charles Crook, the county's purchasing director, of the monument, which will be in Angleton. "It should be quite an impressive monument."

Groundbreaking is scheduled for Veteran's Day on Nov. 11, and the project is expected to be completed in four to six months.

County commissioners authorized the 40-foot project in 2007. The monument will be on the northwest corner of the Brazoria County Courthouse property.

Representing all branches of the military, the memorial will replace the existing Wall of Honor in the courthouse lobby. The project will cost about $615,000.

Corporate and private donations and fundraisers have raised some, but not all, of the money. So far, auctions, proceeds from high school plays and even a circus have generated funds.

A fish fry dinner is next, scheduled for 5-7 p.m. Aug. 28 at Billy's Hall, 4070 Wells Road in Pearland. An auction is scheduled at 6 p.m. For details, call John E. Jerabeck at 979-864-1537.

A circle of concrete embedded with a 6-foot black granite star will serve as the base of the memorial. Encircling the star will be 16, 2-foot-wide bands of granite tile panels that feature photo reproductions of battle scenes.

The circle's perimeter will support standing granite slabs and a 6-by-6-foot black marble dedication monument bearing the names of fallen soldiers. It will contain space for more names.

Shaded by existing oaks by day, the memorial will be illuminated by night. Three flagpoles will fly the United States, Texas and prisoner of war flags.

To be included in the planned memorial's granite walls will be a laser-etched copy of the "Ghost Letter," written by a soldier in Iraq to his mother two hours before he was killed.

Another letter to be etched in granite is one from President Abraham Lincoln to a woman whose son was killed in the Civil War.

Two bronze statues will stand within the circular design, both created by Tom White, a sculptor from Midland.

The life-sized statues are of local veteran Clarence Sasser, and of a mother receiving a folded memorial flag.

A county native who lives in Rosharon, Sasser received the Congressional Medal of Honor as an Army medic for treating wounded soldiers under fire despite wounds of his own.

The statue shows Sasser in a crouching run as he holds his medic bag.

White met Sasser 18 months ago and expects to have the sculpture on display at the groundbreaking ceremony.

Brazoria County Veteran Service Officer John Jerabeck sees the memorial as reminders of "respect and understanding of duty, honor and country.

"This memorial is a one-of-a-kind, but once again it will be just another human attempt to try to pay our respects to those Brazoria County people that gave all their tomorrows for the pleasures we enjoy today and yesterday and hopefully tomorrow," Jerabeck said.

Article on line at: The Houston Chronicle