Dyess Elementary memorial park to honor veterans with Abilene ISD ties

Amemorial plaza honoring veterans at the Dyess Elementary School will blend old and new, with an F-4D Phantom jet that has been a fixture at the west Abilene campus since 1990 serving as its centerpiece.

On Veterans Day, Abilene Independent School District Superintendent David Young announced plans for the addition to district's newest campus.

When the district began the process of building a new Dyess Elementary campus, which opened for the 2021-22 school year, preserving its history was a priority, Young said.

“Part of that is just recognizing the things that were already in place,” he said, such as an existing Korean War memorial.

Discussions with community members led to district’s plan to honor veterans with AISD ties. The memorial would feature a wall with names of students, graduates or employees who served in the Armed Forces and have since died, either while on active duty or after completion of their military service.

The district also will consider students who enlisted before graduating and were either killed in action or didn’t go back to school after their time in the military ended.

When everything is complete, a meandering pathway from the school’s gate to its entrance will pass by the memorial park, Young said.

Help wanted

The project will require the community’s help, YOungsaid.

The district now offers a survey on its website to help determine who should be honored on the wall.

Paper surveys also are available, Young said.

“The survey is very simple,” Young said, requiring a point of contact for the individual submitting a name and information about the nominee, including branch of service and relevant dates.

The district hopes to collect names through the spring, giving it time for an early fall opening and kickoff, he said.

“This is just another way that we can say thank you,” Young said. “There's such a vibrant relationship between the school district and the community and the military here in Abilene. … We know that our graduates have served all over the world, and so we want to honor that service.”

Young said he hoped the memorial area would be a place where families can come had share a “moment of quiet reflection.”

A second phase will engage students to create a virtual memorial plaza, where the story of every name enshrined can be told, Young said.

“We're hopeful that our kids will be an even bigger part of that process and help us to tell those stories, “he said.

The link to the survey online is https://forms.gle/TGsPkdTQxdaiHRvq7.

Part of the journey

Speaking at the event, Dyess Elementary Principal Chad Drake said that he did not have many personal ties to the military, at least previously.

“My dad was in the Army for a few years when I was really little,” he said.

But one of the things he loves about his job, Drake said, is “the honor that it is to serve students have families who serve.”

“I've seen firsthand that students make the sacrifice as their parents are serving,” he said. “…The whole family's involved in supporting our country and protecting our freedom.”

The school’s proximity to Dyess means that Drake sees parents who live or work there walk to and from with their children daily.

The memorial park will be “part of their journey every single day,” he said, opening up opportunities for education and conversations between students and parents.

Never forget

State Rep. Stan Lambert told a group of third-grade students gathered for the announcement that Thursday was a “special day” because of its focus on veterans.

“It's because of you and because of your moms and dads, granddads and grandmas and uncles and aunts and others who we call veterans,” Lambert said.

Citing former President Ronald Reagan, he said some live an entire lifetime and “wonder if they ever made a difference in this world.”

“A veteran never has that problem,” Lambert told the young listeners.

There are 19 million veterans living in the United States, while there are 1.6 million veterans living in Texas, Lambert said, with a “big portion” living “right here in Abilene, Texas, in the Big Country.”

“We're very proud of them,” Lambert said. “We're thankful to them for the sacrifices that they make and for the sacrifices that their families make in order for them to serve.”

The AISD doesn’t just serve families with ties to Dyess Air Force Base, Lambert said. It also prepares students for a career in the military through a “very strong ROTC program.”

Lambert recalled a high school friend who graduated from AISD and went on to serve in Vietnam.

“He was killed in combat just a couple of years after he graduated from high school,” he said. “I look forward to seeing (his) name on this memorial once it's completed.”

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said many who enjoy the country's privileges often “forget in time that men have died to win those freedoms,” Lambert told the students.

"May we never forget that freedom isn't free,” he said.

Brian Bethel covers city and county government and general news for the Abilene Reporter-News. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Dyess Elementary memorial park to honor veterans with Abilene ISD ties