Behind the Scenes of the "FREEDOM" Wall

Grand Terrace resident and Vietnam veteran Robert Lavin has helped designed a new way to honor those who have served to protect our country. The Freedom Wall is a way to honor veterans by engraving their name on an individual plaque and placing those plaques on a wall of letters spelling out the word “FREEDOM.” Lavin served in the U.S. Army for two years, from 1966 to 1968, and strongly believes every veteran should be honored for their service. In 2010, Lavin realized that there is no memorial site in the city of Grand Terrace. From that moment on he started working to build a committee, now called the “Veterans Wall of Freedom Organization,” a subcommittee of the Foundation of Grand Terrace, to change that. The committee appeared before the city to showcase their idea. The city brought the empty strip next to Pico Park to their attention. “A city park is an ideal place to start the memorial,” Lavin said. Everything had to be approved by the city, which took about two years. He shared, “We took our time and went at our own pace.” Even though the memorial is not built yet, a flagpole was installed that flies an American flag 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Although the memorial’s not there, the American flag being there is a good start,” Lavin said. The Wall of Freedom’s “tentative” installation date is Nov. 15, 2015. It’s common for memorials to only honor the veterans that are residents in that city. However, Lavin wanted to open the memorial to any veterans throughout the area. “This is a very unique memorial, no other memorials are quite like this one,” Lavin shared. The plaques measure six inches wide and three inches tall, with that the wall will be able to hold about 1,800 plaques. The plaques will state the veteran’s name, his or her rank, branch of service, and any other important information. The Freedom Wall will stand 6-feet tall and 3-feet wide and will span across nearly 60 feet of space. In front of the wall will stand seven flagpoles, with the largest being the permanent American flag at the center. The remaining flagpoles will be the Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, Marines, and the POW/MIA flag. Although the memorial is not yet built, the Wall of Freedom committee is still hosting ceremonies. On Nov. 11, the group will be hosting a Veteran’s Day ceremony at Pico Park for the community to attend. Lavin added, “A big thank you to everybody that has donated and supported the memorial and all the veterans. Without the committee members, I wouldn’t have been able to do most of this.” “It’s about honoring veterans of the past, the ones that are here, and the ones that are going to represent the United States of America,” he said.