An aircraft carrier monument
in Laguna Vista’s Veterans Park seemed like a good way to honor the countless
service members who spent part of their lives on the USS Constellation, USS
Independence and USS Ranger, as well as the ships themselves.
So says Chris Green,
president of International Shipbreaking and regional manager for its parent
company, EMR Group. The ship recycling company is dismantling the Independence,
which arrived in June at the Port of Brownsville, and has completed work on the
Constellation and the Ranger.
For the monument, unveiled
on Veterans Day, the ship breaker donated bollards — short vertical posts
mounted on deck and used to secure the ship to the dock — from each of the
carriers. Green said the company had wanted to create some type of monument
since it received its first retired “supercarrier,” the Constellation, in
January 2015.
International Shipbreaking
was first approached by Laguna Vista Mayor Susie Houston about putting
something in VeteransPark, though Robert Rice, retiring chaplain for the local
veterans group Warriors United in Arms, came up with the idea for the monument
and pushed the project through to fruition, Green said.
“He was just really
instrumental in keeping it going,” Green said. “The mayor of Laguna Vista was
very supportive, and the town council has been very supportive the whole time.”
Source:
Brownsville
Herald. 11 November 2017
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