Officials in Michigan are ready to get started on the construction of what they say is one of the few state-specific World War II memorials in the country.
Art Fishman is excited that the project is taking another step toward reality.
The Oak Park resident, who sailed on a Navy destroyer in the Pacific theater as an 18-year-old, was to be among those on hand Thursday afternoon when ground is broken for The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial.
“It’s more important than people think. Why? Because, if it’s handled right, it will teach the next generation what the war was about, why we were there, what did we fight for. We fought for liberty,” said Fishman, 95, who sailed aboard the USS Robinson in 1945 during its stops in the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and China.
The groundbreaking is for the first phase of the memorial, which includes the laying of more than 1,200 donated Walk of Honor paver bricks and the installation of both a statue called “Joe,” which depicts a soldier in a foxhole reading a letter from home, and flagpoles representing all military branches.
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