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The disabled veterans memorial, which was dedicated and unveiled Saturday, features a disabled veteran with a prosthetic leg sitting with his service dog. Staff photos by Tammy Vinson -
The Elliott family pose with the disabled veterans memorial and include Mike (back row, right) and Pam (center), creators of the statue and son Cody (front row, right), who was the model. -
Workers drill a hole in the polished stone base as they prepare to install the life-sized bronze statue at the disabled veterans memorial on Friday. The memorial was unveiled by the McKenzie family at a ceremony Saturday afternoon. Staff photos by Tammy Vinson -
The names of 143 service members killed in action from the Civil War to present day are etched on the end caps of the Hopkins County Veterans Memorial. The names were read aloud Saturday afternoon at a dedication ceremony, which included the playing of TAPS and a three-shot volley.
Disabled veterans memorial unveiled and dedicated
A new addition to the Hopkins County Veterans Memorial was unveiled and dedicated Saturday, just in time for Veterans Day.
The new sculpture, in honor of disabled veterans, features a life-sized man with a prosthetic leg along with his service dog. The model for the veteran was Mike and Pam Elliott’s son, Cody, and the model for the service dog was the Elliotts’ dog, Bella. Pam Elliott serves as chair of the Hopkins County Veterans Memorial.
“I love the service dog, because it gives a more modern twist to the sculpture,” Elliott said. “Not all the injuries soldiers come home with are physical wounds.”
The veteran wears a watch that shows the time as 8:46 a.m., which is the time the first plane struck the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
John Parsons of Derby, Kansas began working on the project after being contacted last August by Elliott. Parsons is a retired Wichita forest and wildlife firefighter and lifelong hunter who is disabled himself as a result of a 1979 hunting accident that almost left him paralyzed. After retirement, Parsons turned his hobby of taxidermy into a business and got into sculpting from there.
His statues are on display at several Cabela’s locations in the Midwest region, as well as the California 9-11 Memorial in Clovis and the World War I Memorial in Fort Towson, Oklahoma.
Parsons said he begins his process by creating a small clay model of the sculpture, “just to be sure everybody is on the same page.” Once all the details are approved, he moves ahead with creating a life-sized clay version of the sculpture, which is used to create a mold.
The mold goes a foundry in Colorado, where it’s filled with molten bronze to create the statue in a process called casting, which takes about six months. After that, Parsons travels to Colorado to work with technicians as the patina and highlighting is applied.
During the dedication ceremony Saturday, Danny Davis, County Treasurer and Veterans Services Officer, read the names of 143 Hopkins County residents who were killed in action from the Civil War to Operation Enduring Freedom.
Congressman John Ratcliffe spoke briefly at the ceremony: “It’s wonderful when there are fitting tributes and reminders that Veterans Day shouldn’t just be on a Monday in November. It should be on a Wednesday in December and a Tuesday in July and every day. Because there are veterans who live every day with the sacrifices they made. There are veterans who suffer physical and mental disabilities as a result of the service they have rendered for us, for the freedom we enjoy every day. If they live and struggle with that every day, then we should have something to remind us every day for what our veterans have done for us.”
Mandy Kennedy, one of the organizers of the Hopkins County Freedom Ball, recognized three patriots who made the “Freedom is Never Free” memorial possible — Pam Elliott, John Parsons and Mickey McKenzie.
Mickey and Barbara McKenzie were the first donors to the Hopkins County Veterans Memorial back in 2008 with an initial $150,000 donation to “get the ball rolling,” according to Kennedy. The $1.2 million project was completed with no debt. They then donated another $56,000 to fund the construction of the disabled veterans memorial.
Both McKenzies spoke about the reasons and inspirations behind their gifts.
Mickey McKenzie’s father, Kenneth, served in the U.S. Army and attended West Point, and his uncle, Curtis, served in the Navy. Barbara McKenzie’s father, J.L. Esslinger Jr., served in the Air Force in England, France and Belgium during World War II. He returned to the U.S. with severe mental disabilities, referred to as “shell shock” at the time, as a result of his experiences in the war. He was able to receive treatment through the V.A. and lived to age 92 as a farmer in southern New Mexico.
Mickey McKenzie described his experience of traveling to Amarillo from Lubbock in the mid-1960s to undergo medical evaluation prior to being drafted. McKenzie was surprised to learn he was disqualified from military service due to a back injury.
“I was happy at the time, because I was trying to finish my education and get my life started. But as time went on, I had a guilt feeling. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be of service to my country,” McKenzie said, fighting emotion. “I’m trying to make up a little bit of that now.”