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Chapel Hill veteran memorial in need of funding

The memorial will be built in Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery.

The memorial, set to be placed at Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery, was approved by the Chapel Hill Town Council in April 2013.

The town’s Veterans Committee has been planning its design since the approval. The committee is made up of four Chapel Hill residents and the town’s parks and recreation department.

“We’re now entering the raising funds phase,” said committee member and veteran Lee Heavlin.

Heavlin said the committee has raised a few thousand dollars, but that it is not enough to begin construction — and the quality of the memorial will depend on the contributions of residents, since no funding will come from the government.

Heavlin said he hopes the committee can raise enough money to go above and beyond their initial objective.

“If we do very well on fundraising, it’ll be a little bit better than we expect,” he said.

“We’ll have enough leftover for perpetual care.”

Heavlin said once construction begins, the memorial will take roughly six months to complete and will be located within an existing brick plaza at the center of the cemetery, which will be renovated as funds dictate.

He said the memorial will be made up of five pillars representing each branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and surrounded by a grove of trees.

Heavlin said the committee chose the cemetery because half of its gravesites are those of veterans.

“It’ll be nice to put a memorial at an existing site,” he said. “That way, the cemetery gets dressed up a little bit, and we have something nice.”

Heavlin said the committee will bring attention to the memorial’s fundraising by asking residents for donations around Memorial Day and will hold a memorial service at the cemetery site the Saturday before the holiday.

“Also on Memorial Day, we’ll have more talks as far as what the timeline will be,” he said.

UNC freshman Taishu McLawhorn said Chapel Hill is the kind of place where it’s critical to honor veterans.

“I think it’s important to recognize what veterans do for our country,” he said. “Especially in a college town like Chapel Hill, it’s important to show young adults the importance of veterans.”

Dana Mansfield, a junior at UNC, said a memorial close to campus would better for visitors of the University campus to see and appreciate.

“I think veterans are easily overlooked,” said Mansfield.

“A lot of time people don’t know too much about veterans, especially student veterans, so I think it would be cool to have a memorial to celebrate what they are doing for our country.”

city@dailytarheel.com

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