One of the Ole Seagull’s three favorite Branson Mayors, Raeanne Presley, said, “In a city where veterans and their families are so central to our core values, it is fitting that we have this permanent memorial honoring America’s military services in the center of our Historic Downtown District.” Mayor Presley spoke those words during a special ceremony held in Historic Downtown Branson before the start of Branson’s Annual Veterans Day Parade on November 11, 2008. The ceremony was to dedicate the first five commemorative squares of what was to be the Branson Star Walk (Walk). The walk was to be a tribute to America’s military services and those people and events that have contributed to the history, heritage and entertainment that made Branson what it is.
Under an agreement between the Historic Downtown Branson Business Owners Association (HDBBO) and the City, the first five squares honored each branch of the U.S. Military: the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Air Force..#1 It was at the dedication of those squares that Mayor Presley said, “In a city where veterans and their families are so central to our core values, it is fitting that we have this permanent memorial honoring America’s military services in the center of our Historic Downtown District.”
The military squares were taken up, moved to Patriot’s Park, and set up against a wall during Phase I of the Downtown Streetscape Project, where they remain today. While the streetscape project makes it impractical to reinstall the squares to their original position, an Ole Seagull believes that it’s a matter of honor that we include a permanent memorial honoring America’s military services in the center of the Historic Downtown District of America’s Most Patriotic City.
One way to do it would be to put up signs slightly larger than the typical street name signs, each with the name and logo of a service branch of the Armed Forces on the poles just above the regular street name signs. How it happens is not as important as making sure that the most Patriotic City in America does not go on record as removing what it promised would be a permanent memorial honoring America’s military services in the center of its Historic Downtown District.
An Ole Seagull would paraphrase Mayor Presley’s words and say, “In America’s Most Patriotic City where veterans and their families are so central to our core values, it is fitting that we have this permanent memorial honoring America’s military services in the center of our Historic Downtown District.
“But Seagull, how do we make that happen?” “There are many ways, but one neat way would be for the city to pass a resolution declaring the intersection of Branson’s ‘Main’ and ‘Commercial’ as ‘Veterans Memorial Corner’ as soon as possible with the selection of an appropriate method of physically identifying that at the intersection to be determined during the final phase of the streetscape project.
#1 The U.S. Space Force was yet to come into existence.
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