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Associated PressIn Santa Rosa County, veterans are being honored with a park of their own. One woman bought memorial bricks for all the veterans in her family, dating to the Revolutionary War.
MILTON - Don Salter stands at the edge of the Santa Rosa County Veterans Memorial Plaza, staring down at a sea of red bricks engraved with names and dates.
A few names he knows well. Most are strangers made familiar by a shared sacrifice.
"That's my late father-in-law," Salter said, pointing to a row of six red bricks. "That one's me. Those are my brothers and those are my half brothers. All of these bricks have stories."
Salter, currently chairman of the Santa Rosa County Commission, said he likes visiting the memorial - a stone and granite park with flower beds and an open courtyard - on Milton's downtown riverwalk.
"It's a humbling experience for me to stand here," said the former paratrooper who served 15 months in Vietnam. "When they started laying the bricks, it took life. It wasn't just a construction project."
The memorial, scheduled to be dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, is Salter's brainchild.
The idea took shape more than four years ago when he spoke at a Memorial Day ceremony at a Milton cemetery.
"I saw veterans struggling to get through the dirt and gravel and rocks, and I thought it's a shame that we in Santa Rosa County, a very patriotic county, have no home for our veterans," he said.
Salter was soon joined by Ralph Nesonson, who spent 26 years in the Navy as an aviation storekeeper, and about a dozen other veterans.
"Santa Rosa County and the Panhandle, basically, is the military," Nesonson said. "To me, this memorial is paying tribute to the ones who gave us our freedoms."
For the past year, Nesonson has volunteered five days a week for more than five hours a day selling memorial bricks, answering phones and serving as one of the project's biggest cheerleaders.
"It feels great," said Nesonson. "When you stop to think about it, it can be a little emotional."
So far, the veterans group has sold 3,200 bricks and hopes eventually to sell more than 8,000. "One woman bought 56 bricks, one for every veteran in her family, dating back to the Revolutionary War," he said.
"This covers all veterans, not just one war," he said, adding that the memorial will honor Navy, Air Force, Army, Marines, Coast Guard, National Guard and Merchant Marine veterans. At the center of the park is a stone courtyard with a giant green star on the floor and five granite panels representing each branch of the military.
Along the walled edges of the memorial are granite panels that honor every war and conflict involving U.S. forces since the Revolutionary War.
All of the sculptures in the park are being designed by Pensacola artist Sam Nettles.
In the center of the courtyard will sit a sculpture of a soldier, kneeling with his gun and holding the dog tags of a fallen comrade.
Salter and Nesonson say they hope the memorial will be enjoyed and used by all ages, particularly school children.
"We want our youth to understand about America, our constitution and the sacrifices men and women have made," Nesonson said.