BELLA VISTA -- The first phase of the expansion to the Veterans Wall of Honor has been built and is awaiting memorial bricks.
Ray Brust, president of the Veterans Council of Northwest Arkansas, said work on an expansion started about 2017. He said the organization formed in 2001 and construction on the original wall began in 2002 or 2003. By 2014, the project was complete and all the spaces for names were taken, with 4,800 names on the original structure.
"We kept getting requests for additional spaces. Around 2017 we decided to pursue an expansion, so we did the planning and drawing up. We had this really nice plan where we could add 6,000 more names," he said.
With Hight Jackson as architect and Crafton Tull as engineers, the council applied for the major development project through the city for permits and had that completed around February 2020. Then covid struck, and the project was delayed two years.
In February 2022, the council chose Shewmaker Construction as its contractor and broke ground. There were some supply chain issues, but the wall was built in December, and now all that is left is to put a cap on the wall and clean up, Brust said.
The first phase has room for 288 names, and well over half have been applied for already. The cost is $175 per brick. For more information, go to vetwallofhonor.org or email Brust at [email protected].
Brust said the bricks have been delayed, but they are expected at any time.
He said when the expansion is complete there will be five 32-foot-diameter concrete pads with four walls each, connected by a 48-foot-diameter pad. The five circles represent the five branches of the military. The organization has also applied to the U.S. Navy and has been approved to place an aircraft on display at the site.
To make a donation, go to vetwallofhonor.org.
"We need some pretty large contributions," he said. "We're a not-for-profit organization, and we live on donations. We put just over $100,000 into the first phase."
He said a formal estimate given on the cost of the entire project in 2020 was $1.1 million, but with inflation, the cost would be more today.
Rachel Dickerson/The Weekly Vista Phase one of the expansion to the Veterans Wall of Honor is shown. Bricks are available and donations may be made at vetwallofhonor.org