New memorial honors war dead from Southwest Florida

COURTESY PHOTO Area companies and veterans made the Vietnam Memorial in Fort Myers a reality. Names remain etched in black granite while former comrades reach to touch what everyone calls simply, "The Wall."

Veterans brought the spirit of the Washington D.C. Vietnam Veterans Memorial home to Fort Myers to honor their local fallen comrades.

The Southwest Florida Vietnam Memorial lists the names of 76 dead from five area counties etched into three, black granite, 9-foot-by-8-foot panels.

Organizers recently installed the panels at McGregor and Colonial Boulevards. They would also like the memorial to tell the war's story from letters the soldiers sent home.

"We would like for anyone who has letters from soldiers about the war to let us have copies," said Craig Tonjes, of Lee County Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 594. "We'd like to put the letters on the back of the wall."

Out for their usual afternoon walk last week, Tim Jones and his wife Tena paid the wall a visit. Jones, a U.S. Air Force Vietnam veteran, touched the black granite in a show of respect.

COURTESY PHOTO The Southwest Florida Vietnam Memorial lists the names of 76 dead from five area counties etched into three, black granite, 9-foot-by-8-foot panels. It's located at the corner of McGregor and Colonial Boulevards. "People who weren't there just don't know what it was all about," Jones said. "These soldiers paid a price for us."

The local memorial takes its design from the national Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. That wall carries the names of 58,000 killed in the war from 1955 to 1975.

A Sanibel artist proved another connection to the original wall.

Lucas Century developed a granite-etching technique that he used on the local memorial through work on the national memorial.

"The granite, the same style of lettering, is all the same as the wall in Washington," Century said. "As I worked on the wall in D.C., I felt the incredible number of lives resonating at my fingertips. Doing this wall, seeing my reflection again in the deep granite, I felt aware of them again."

The idea for a memorial to honor war dead from Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and DeSoto counties started with Tonjes about 10 years ago. Tonjes said neither he nor his fellow veterans knew the process to get the memorial built.

Once the site and design were selected, research on the names had to be done. Permits and permissions had to be secured.

There would be a cost, but the veterans didn't know how much it would be.

"Having the heart to do something is not having the knowledge," Tonjes said. "Once we decided on a design, I went to (local builder) Owen Ames Kimball and submitted the plans."

The company president came out to talk, Tonjes said.

"Instead of getting a cost estimate, I said 'Why don't we just build it,'" said Steve Shimp, the local company president. "We had a meeting with some subcontractors and they said they'd do their share of the work or donate cash."

Despite donations, Century ran into about $25,000 in costs for his work.

"When I heard about that, I decided we could raise some money to help," said Al Hanser, president of Sanibel captive Trust Company. "Lucas (Century) is so popular and does so much community work, we raised close to $30,000."

The memorial could cost as much as $125,000 to complete. Plans call for black granite panels to be etched with service members' thoughts from their war time letters.

"We would like to start a fund for the maintenance of the memorial," Tonjes said. "If there are any memorials like pictures or medals left at the site, like they do in Washington, we would like to archive them for display."