Military flags, Warrior’s Walk coming to Johnson Park veterans memorial
Additions are coming to veterans memorial at Johnson Park in Marble Falls, including military flags and a Warrior's Walk trail. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro
JENNIFER FIERRO • STAFF WRITER
MARBLE FALLS — To continue honoring those who donned a uniform for this nation, the Marble Falls Rotary Club is adding to the veterans memorial area at Johnson Park.
The project will add flags from each of the five branches of the military as well as a Warrior’s Walk trail.
“It really is done from the heart,” said Steve Hurst, the Rotary community service chairman. “I’ve learned to appreciate the effort. There are things people can do to sort of reward the service of others.”
The Marble Falls City Council approved the project unanimously during its regular meeting Sept. 20.
Hurst and architect Marley Porter came up with the concept.
The flags will go up in front of five large granite stones. Each stone is 8-8½ feet tall.
“All of it is granite that has been partially harvested (but unusable for other projects),” Hurst said. “Marley wants to repurpose these. The challenge for us was to get the massive stones. They’ll have fabricated metal pieces attached to the top of the granite stones.”
The Warrior’s Walk will link the memorial to the city’s hike-and-bike trail system, which connects Johnson Park to Westside Park.
And there will be room left at the memorial for any future additions.
“It’ll have a really nice entryway,” Hurst said about the memorial. “It’ll wind and circle around and come in front of it. It’ll give everybody an opportunity to add a certain touch to memorialize family and friends. There’ll be a water feature we’ll add as well.”
The goal is to set the granite stones by Nov. 11 in time for Veterans Day. Hurst has talked to officials at Falls on the Colorado Museum in the hopes the board and the club can set an official start date for the project.
Hurst said he believes the area will be enhanced even more with these additions because it will allow those who visit a place to remember and reflect.
“I love that Marley understands it,” Hurst said. “He’s done a good job. Hopefully, it all comes together. These older repurposed stones, they have character to me.”
Hurst became interested in serving veterans when he worked for Ray Roberts, a former U.S. Congressman from Texas who was the chairman of Veteran Affairs.
“It was interesting to me to see how much we’ve done to memorialize veterans,” he said. “If you’ve ever been to the national cemetery, it’s a really moving place to be.”
jfierro@thepicayune.com