McKINNEY VETERANS MEMORIAL
Ground Breaking Ceremony
CITY OF MCKINNEY
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 11, 2007
Order of Ceremony
Master of Ceremonies
Opening Prayer
Presentation of Colors
National Anthem
Post the Colors
Mayor Bill Whitfield
Congressman Sam Johnson
Congressman Ralph Hall
Introduction of the Readers
Phyllis Broomfield
Kay Clifton
Tamara Cottle
Gilda Garza
Travis Grant
Danny Hoffman
Reading of the names of 312 Collin County residents who
died in the service of their country
Taps
Dale Littrell
Flyover
(Aero Country Airport – Carl Best)
Retire the Colors
In the summer of 2003, one of Ronnie Foster’s high school classmates asked
him, "Whatever happened to Bill Bryan?" He was stunned. Bill Bryan had been
killed in 1968 in Vietnam. Bill and Ronnie had joined the Marine Corps together
in June 1966, two weeks after graduation from McKinney High School. Ronnie was
lucky enough to come home; Bill was not.
The fact that Bill had sacrificed his life for his country and had been
forgotten troubled Ronnie. Ronnie enlisted the help of Linda Phillips and began
searching online and found the names of twenty men from Collin County, thirteen
of whom had lived in McKinney, who had died in Vietnam. They continued to extend
their research, and as of April 2006, have identified the names of over 300
Collin County men who died in war, from WWI to the current war in Iraq. Wanting
to honor all of the area’s veterans, Ronnie and Linda began a campaign to
construct the McKinney Veterans Memorial.
On April 18, 2006, the McKinney City Council approved the site for the
McKinney Veterans Memorial located at Craig Ranch. The memorial will recognize
the service of all veterans with special recognition for those Collin County
residents who have lost their lives in the defense of their country.
The memorial’s design contains several unique and remarkable elements. The
ribbon walk, which allows circulation within the memorial, represents the ribbon
symbol which recognizes the commitment of men and women in the armed forces. The
flag rises above a pool of water with six sources of water. The pool
symbolically waters six living red oak trees connected to the pool of water by
the ribbon walk. Five of the living trees represent the five branches of the
armed forces: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force. The sixth
tree represents current, past, and future organizations that are significant in
the defense of the country such as the Merchant Marine, National Guard, and
Homeland Security.
The Veterans Memorial does not represent any specific period of time, but commemorates men and women who have committed to the service of their country. Those Collin County residents who have lost their lives in service of their country will have their names displayed on an arched wall between the flag and the pool of water. There is allowance of space for future names to be displayed just as the sixth living tree allows for recognition of future organizations that may not be named today.
The estimated cost of designing and constructing this memorial is $900,000. The McKinney Community Development Corporation has granted $350,000 in funding for this project. It is up to community leaders and businesses to raise the remaining funding for this memorial. Included in this packet, you will find a rendering of the McKinney Veterans Memorial and a short presentation about the project.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about the McKinney Veterans Memorial and we hope you will find this project to be an outstanding compliment to our community and a fitting tribute to the men and women of the armed forces, past, present and future.