GREEN COVE SPRINGS – After collecting donations and selling memorial bricks for two years, the TAPS Fallen Warriors Monument team has collected the necessary funds to bring a new veteran’s memorial to Clay County.

The project started about 10 years ago when Clay County Board of County Commissioners chair Harold Rutledge wanted to build a similar memorial for veterans but could not get support for the project. Gary Newman, the chair of the Clay County chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America, set out to make the memorial happen on his own terms.

After garnering interest from the veteran community, the city of Green Cove Springs, the BCC and the Clay County Historical Society, Newman and a team of representatives from area veterans and historical groups set a fundraising goal in 2015. They were seeking about $78,000 to fund the project, but not through government grants or donations.

They didn’t want the memorial to belong to any government body, so the project was to be funded through donations from the public, either lump sums or in smaller increments through a $50-apiece brick adoption program.

“From the beginning, we wanted this to belong to the citizens of Clay County,” Newman said. “We didn’t want to use taxpayer money – all the money came from individual donations. It will always belong to the people of Clay County.”

After a recent donation of $12,500 from Clay Electric’s Operation Round Up, the monument was fully funded and actually moved past its original goal, reaching $82,000 raised, with the extra donations placed into a fund that is held specifically for the monument.

“All money collected in the future will go into a fund for maintenance of the area,” Newman said.

Of that $82,000, Newman estimates that about $30,000 of that has been donated through the brick sales, with the rest coming from donations like the one from Clay Electric.

With funding secured, the project is now heading for the finish line. The site will be the grassy area between the flagpole and northwest corner of the old county courthouse in the “Historical Triangle” in Green Cove Springs. An official reveal ceremony is scheduled at the site on Sept. 11 at 11 a.m., in observance of Patriot’s Day, as well as remembering those whose names appear on the monument’s granite panels.

“It’s a dream come true for me,” Newman said. “To honor all veterans who might have been forgotten. We can never forget those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice, that’s why we are building this monument.”

The statue that will sit atop the monument has already been purchased and has been traveling with the fundraising team to events where they were seeking brick sales to provide Clay County residents a preview of what they are building.

The statue is full of symbolism. The triangular base represents the folded U.S. flag that is given to the widow of a fallen soldier at a graveside service. Moving upwards, a representation of a bugle sits at the center of the triangle symbolizing the Civil War and the playing of “Taps” at a military funeral. Rising from each corner of the triangle are three rifles, barrels pointed down to symbolize fallen soldiers. The cast weapons represent the typical armaments of World War I, World War II, and an M-16 assault rifle, which represents the Vietnam era until the present. At the top is a World War II era helmet which symbolizes protection over all members of the armed forces.

The statue will sit on top of a three-sided granite memorial which will have the names of every Clay County soldier who has fallen in battle since the start of the Civil War. The names have been carefully researched to ensure that these are, in fact, Clay County’s fallen soldiers.

“I spent all of last summer researching the names,” said Clay County archives specialist Vishi Garig.

In Garig’s office, there are multiple boxes full of files on all the fallen soldiers. She has read through every file and found each soldier’s connection to Clay County. Garig still gets requests and is still finalizing the list before the granite is permanently carved. The granite, which added about $40,000 to the price of the project, will be sourced from the same quarry as the granite used to create the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

The entire monument will sit on a patio of bricks which have been purchased through the adopt a brick program, which will continue to be sold and added as time passes.

In addition to continuing of the adopt a brick program, Newman also invites any family members of the soldiers on the monument to contact him about their participation in the event. Newman said it is important to him that the families are present and play a part in the ceremony where the citizens of Clay County will gather to honor their fallen loved ones.

For family members of the fallen soldiers or more information about adopting a memorial brick, Gary Newman can be reached at (904) 269-1857, or by email at agnjustice@yahoo.com.