October 19, 2017 at 8:58 a.m.
Lighting the flame
Veterans memorial in Presque Isle dedicated
Lighting the flame
It took some time to make the memorial a reality and once the dedication ceremony was over, Larry Gorrilla felt relieved.
Gorrilla, a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1969, told The Lakeland Times Monday talk of getting a veterans memorial for Presque Isle by the membership of the Winegar American Legion Post 480 had been going on for several years.
"There were some initial drawings showing a wooden structure with a cover and a monument," he said. "But nobody really took the ball and started running with it."
In 2013, during a meeting of post membership, a committee was established to further study the possibility of a veterans memorial in Presque Isle "to research it and kind of get it off the ground."
"At that meeting, there were a number of volunteers," Gorrilla said. "One of them was me."
He has background in construction design and management - Gorrilla and his wife, Colleen, had a company in Milwaukee for 30 years that did just that.
Gorrilla said it soon became apparent he was the only one in the group with the background to do the design for the memorial he felt needed to be done.
He became the committee chairman by virtue of that background.
"At our first meeting, the possibility of getting a tank or a helicopter or a truck and putting up a flag was discussed," Gorrilla said. "Maybe a little monument or something. I thought those were good ideas but I also thought we should expand our horizon a little bit and think 'outside the box.' What were we trying to accomplish?"
He came up with three sketches of what he felt the memorial might make a suitable memorial, one of them eventually becoming the basis of the design for what became the monument built at Presque Isle.
The memorial would feature two large granite slabs with the names of veterans who had served honorably on them.
In between, an eternal flame in their honor.
There would be provisons made to add more slabs if necessary as time went on and names added.
Also featured were smaller granite markers lining either side of a walkway leading to the larger slabs that would have brief summaries of the major conflicts the U.S. has been involved in since and including the Revolutionary War.
There would be benches, one for each branch of the service - U.S. Army. U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Merchant Marine.
Behind the two large granite markers would be eight flagpoles.
On those flagpoles would be again the flag of each branch along with the U.S. flag, the Wisconsin flag and the flag for prisoners of war and those missing in action.
Moving forward
In June, 2014, the final design for the monument, complete with a model to give members of the post an even better idea of what the monument would look like, was pitched to them at a post membership meeting.
They voted to proceed.
A non-profit foundation - the Wilderness Veterans Memorial Flame Foundation - was established, complete with a board of directors that would oversee final planning and fundraising.
The budget for the memorial, approximately $350,000, wasn't something Gorrilla wanted to reveal for some time because he feared people would focus more on that than raising money for the project.
It was also established early on until the money was raised, there would be no ground broken.
Over the course of nearly the past three years, the money was raised through sponsorships of various facets of the memorial.
Raffle tickets were also sold for a couple of different drawings last year and this year, dinners were held.
People with veterans in their families, regardless of where they had resided or do reside, can have, for a set contribution, that veteran's name enshrined on the memorial and on the website's virtual wall along with the veteran's picture and biography.
By the time of Saturday's dedication, there were 414 names of U.S. veterans on the memorial's Honor Wall.
Most served in the military between World War l up to present day.
Some were killed in action in places like Vietnam and Iraq.
Some served in the military during peacetime for a couple years and got out.
Many served during war time and discharged.
Some served 20 years or more and retired.
At least one, Sgt. Carson Holmquist of Grantsburg, was serving in the U.S. Marine Corps when he was killed in a terrorist attack on a Marine Corps recruiting office in Chattanooga, Tenn.
His mother and father, Sue and Tom Holmquist, attended the dedication at which the Wisconsin flag flies and was donated via a special fundraiser by WVMFF in honor of their son.
Saturday, speaking at the dedication, Gorrilla said people ask why money is spent "on a structure that does not feed the living or heal the wounded? Do memorials have any value? Is it better to forget and get on with our lives?"
"Memorials are far more complicated than a granite monument might suggest," he said. "Ahead of you are 414 testimonies of Americans who served Americans. There is room for many more on this Honor Wall. It is a profile of our culture, our optimistic nature and compassion for people who are treated badly by those in power."
The men and women in the U.S. military, Gorrilla said, are known the world over "for their humor, patriotism, camaraderie, kindness and friendship."
"In times of war or peace people of the world notice the unique nature of our American military," he told the crowd.
Gorrilla said memorials exist "to acknowledge our unique culture and values."
"They capture our history and function to preserve and shape our national identity," he said. "Memorials give physical meaning to how we have evolved as Americans. When we light the flame today, Presque Isle and her friends will have their place to reflect on the special role our veterans make in developing the ideals of the United States of America."
Monday, Gorrilla told The Lakeland Times there are plans to continue fundraising to build an endowment fund for the memorial's upkeep into perpetuity.
"There were people who doubted we could get this memorial built here in the small town of Presque Isle," he said.
Gorrilla is very modest about what he's done to get his vision out there and the final effort to get the project to completion - he'll refer to his fellow members of the WVMFF board of directors, for instance, saying it was a "team effort."
"I'm very proud to be a part of this memorial, to do the design and manage the construction," he said. "To see it come to fruition."
Brian Jopek may be reached via email at [email protected]
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