MARION, Illinois – For more than a decade, the Global War on Terror Memorial Wall has crisscrossed the country, serving to honor veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice during two decades of conflict.
The memorial wall stopped at Oasis Powersports in Marion and will be on display throughout the weekend before being taken down in the afternoon on Monday, July 1.
The double-sided memorial features the names of fallen veterans and civilians, as well as a timeline designed to educate visitors on the decades of conflict the American military has endured.
“Our goal is to continue to travel around and explain to young and old people what the whole Middle East conflict is about,” said Michael Gasperini.
Gasperini is a member of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association and part of the Romans Warrior Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting veterans and first responders past and present.
“I was in the Marine Corps for 30 years. My wife was in the Marine Corps for 30 years. And so we’re all about giving back to our veterans,” Gasperini said.
The wall was built Friday afternoon with the help of the Marion Wildcats football team, whose players were all born after the start of the Global War on Terror.
“We are trying to teach this generation what happened in the past to continue our history,” Gasperini said.
The 120-foot-high wall consists of 12 panel sections, each weighing approximately 250 pounds, and addresses the events of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, the 1990-1991 Gulf War, the September 11, 2001 attacks, and the subsequent wars in the Middle East until the American withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
“For these families, every day is Memorial Day,” Gasperini said. “All of these guys paved the way for our freedoms in this country, and that’s exactly what we’re here to do: keep those memories alive.”
Among the volunteers was a Gold Star family, the parents of Woodlawn native Lance Cpl. J. Kyle Price, a 19-year-old Marine killed in Iraq in 2006. His family helped place Plaque 19 on the wall, listing Kyle’s name alongside his fallen comrades.
Her Friday had begun with a police escort from Mount Vernon to Woodlawn, where the Romans Warrior Foundation paid his final respects at the Lance Cpl. J. Kyle Price Memorial.
“We hope Kyle would be proud of everything we have done to carry on his name and the names of all the men and women who have lost their lives in the conflicts,” said his mother, Cheryl Price-Hunsell.
The public is invited to visit the GWOT Memorial Wall this weekend in Marion. The wall will also be in Flora, Illinois on July 4.
“There could be no better representation of the Fourth of July than being able to build this wall,” Gasperini said.
