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Marilyn Childress, president of the Veterans Heritage Site Foundation, was the force behind Sharp s Ridge Veterans Memorial Park. The Navy veteran has now set her sights on fundraising and spreading the word about the future site for a French Broad Veterans Memorial Park.
The land for the memorial park, near East Tennessee Veterans Cemetery, was donated by Blue Water Industries to Legacy Parks Foundation about a year ago.
“It is 10-12 acres next to the French Broad River that forms a buffer between the quarry and the river that they weren’t using,” said Childress.
“Originally we were going to make more of a memorial park on Sharp’s Ridge, but it doesn’t allow for large gatherings.”
“This would be a great opportunity to thank a veteran," said Navy veteran Marilyn Childress asking for donations to build a new park in East Knox County.
The observance was organized by the Captain Bill Robinson Chapter #1078, Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Knoxville.
In 2012, Governor Bill Haslam first proclaimed March 29 as Vietnam Veterans Day in Tennessee. The 2021 proclamation by Governor Bill Lee details that 103 months passed between the United States Congressâ passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution August 7, 1964, and the withdrawal of the last American combat forces from Vietnam March 29, 1973. It also notes that nearly 160,000 Vietnam veterans currently reside in Tennessee, and 1,295 Tennesseans gave their lives for their country during the War in Vietnam.
Chris Albrecht, VVA Chapter #1078 Public Relations Officer and Master of Ceremonies, said that 26 unaccounted-for POWs are from Tennessee, and two are from Knox County.
Shopper Blog: Comics characters and a rethinking of Easter
The Knoxville News-Sentinel 1 hr ago Knoxville News Sentinel
WORDS OF FAITH
John Tirro, Shopper News
I’ve been watching WandaVision, in Connecticut, in the last days of my dad’s decline. It’s comforting to me.
Wanda and Vision are comic book characters from my childhood, so it pleases my inner 12-year-old. They’re also movie characters that I enjoyed with my sons when they were 12, and the whole comic book thing ties back to a box of Classics Comic Books from my dad’s childhood, that he gave me early on, which formed a lot of my love of reading (my go-to self-soothing activity) and probably relates to my love of scripture as well. So that’s a lot.