By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



A Gardendale group is asking for the community’s help in their efforts to honor fallen soldiers.

The Gardendale Beatification Commission is making plans to revitalize Memorial Park, located between Main Street and U.S. 31. Plans for the park also include a memorial that will include the names of all Gardendale military men and women killed in action during wartime.

Commission President Louie Pearson said park project has been in the works since the group was formed last September.

The commission is asking residents to submit the names of any friends or family members in killed in action to be etched on the memorial, which will likely consist of black granite structures.

“We asked the department of defense for names, but they sent us all the names from Jefferson County,” Pearson said. “It’s hard for us to determine the names, because they aren’t broken down by city.”

The commission has been working with Richard Bradley of Laser Works of Alabama in Gardendale to design the memorial itself.

Bradley said he had shared a few different designs with the commission, but nothing had been set in stone as of yet.

Some of those designs include an 8-foot-tall structure with space for an etched mural of war scenes or soldiers’ faces, while another includes three black marble obelisks. Other plans include five benches, representing each branch of the armed services and the coast guard.

“Whatever they decide on, it will be more fitting than what’s there now,” Bradley said.

Pearson said the cost of the project would likely be about $25,000. The commission receives an annual budgeted amount from the city, but funds will likely have to be raised to offset the cost of the park.

“It’s going to be landscaped beautifully and we’ll install some parking spaces so someone can pull off and visit the park,” he said. “We’ll retain some of the crepe myrtles that were put there recently, but it will include more ground landscaping.”

Gardendale residents who have names of loved ones killed in action can contact Pearson at 631-9804 or via e-mail at pearson915@msn.com. The information can also be mailed to 427 Creekview Circle, Gardendale, AL, 35071.