Visit to Veterans Memorial at Riverside Park

 On April 22, 2023 I went to visit Veteran Memorial at Riverside Park for my blog visit. I specifically picked this memorial because it reminded me of my trip to Camp Blanding on the last Saturday for a special assignment for my history class.It was me and my girlfriend this time and boy did we have today learning about how similar Camp Blanding and Veterans Memorial at River Park.I remember that our guide person at the beginning of his introduction at Camp Blanding telling us what we were going to learn about that day which was about the WWII, the guns they used, and the people who actually fought in WWII and more. 

At the Veterans Memorial I saw a bunch of sites of where some of the people who were actual in a war and buried underneath the plaques. It reminded of the video on the Camp blanding youtube site where one of the workers were interviewing a retired Veteran named Donald J. Halverson. He explained how about of men in his crew died and buried on Camp Blending.It was definitely a honor to see who and what war they fought in and it was even cooler to be so close to this historical site.

Im so glad that I was able to take a picture of this plaque because it related so much to sergeant Donald Halverson because they both were in the infantry. Emory L. Bennett served in the 15th Infantry regiment while Donald. served in the 168 Infantry regiment.They both made and created guns for the war they fought in. Emory would make and fix the assault rifles provided in the war for the soldiers. As his plaque stated "a man to rely on" he was recognized for helping and providing fire weapons for the guys in the war.

Veteran Memorial at River Park represented and transformed Florida bristled with over a 170 military installations ranging from the mega complexes from the US Army's facilities just like Camp Blanding as stated on (pg.333). Veteran Memorial gave praise to the Korean soldiers,Vietnam soldiers, and the Veterans and Auxiliaries soldiers from the year 1950-1982. Camp Blanding gave thanks to all of the soldiers in WWII rather they were in the armor, on the front line or nursery. They also gave thanks to the Asia, Japanese, and American soldiers.

My experience at this historic site was excellent I got to physically see and touch the heroes plaques. I learned a lot more about the wars these soldiers fought and I learned about a lot more soldiers and what part they played in with the war. I loved Camp Blanding so much that i tried to pick something similar to it and the Veterans Memorial at River Park was a great experience to have. If it was up to me I would for sure recommend people to check this place out. I want to give thanks to these men and women for standing up and fighting for me and other people in this country.They were all brave people to put there life out on the line for us it was greatly appreciated.

Cited sources:

Gannon, M. (2018). The History of Florida. pg 330-346.

They Come and Go Quick WWII Veteran Donald J. Halverson Interview. Youtube, Camp Blanding Museum, 17th March 2022.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjUH3ZM_XbU