Photo simulation of the Boston College Veterans’ Memorial that will be constructed on the Burns Library Lawn. (Illustration by Stantec Planning and Landscape Architecture)
Work to Start This Month on Boston College Veterans’ Memorial
A 68-foot-long low granite wall will be built in honor of the 205 Boston College alumni who lost their lives while serving in the military during wartime
By
Construction will begin this month on a Boston College Veterans’ Memorial – a 68-foot-long low granite wall to be built in honor of the 205 Boston College alumni who lost their lives while serving in the military during wartime.The memorial will be located on the Burns Library lawn, at the grass slope near the entrance to Linden Lane. It will be constructed with the same Weymouth granite stone used on the exterior of many of Boston College’s signature buildings. The wall will be capped with pieces of polished dark granite, engraved with the names of the University’s war dead.
A ceremony on Veterans’ Day, Nov. 11, will formally dedicate the memorial. Retired Marine Corps Gen. John J. Sheehan,’62 – the only BC graduate to earn a four-star flag rank – will be the principal speaker.
The Boston College Veterans’ Memorial is the result of nearly a decade of work by a group of alumni veterans who raised funds for the project and worked with University administrators to study design proposals and painstakingly research the names of former Boston College students who died in the nation’s armed conflicts.
“The Veterans’ Memorial will stand as a lasting and unmistakable tribute to those Boston College alumni who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our nation,” says Executive Vice President Patrick Keating, a member of the memorial committee.
“It is also a tribute to those who have never forgotten that sacrifice made by their classmates, friends and fellow alumni,” Keating says. “They have worked tirelessly to ensure that this memorial will stand to remind future generations of the values and commitments that are so dear to all members of our University community.”
The first panel on the wall will carry an engraving of the University seal and the inscription: “Dedicated to the memory of Boston College alumni who died in service to their country.” Following the list of names, grouped by conflict, a final panel will include a cross and an appropriate passage from scripture.
“Boston College has a tradition of answering the call to military service,” notes Paul Delaney,’66, co-chair of the memorial committee, who was an Army officer in Vietnam. Delaney’s daughter Kara, a 1999 BC graduate, is an audiologist and currently serving as a captain with the Army Medical Service Corps in Iraq.
Delaney and co-chair Paul Lufkin,’64, a former Marine Corps officer, were joined by committee members Chris Erickson,’97, an Army ROTC graduate; former Alumni Association chaplain Rev. William McInnes, SJ, a World War II veteran who helped launch the annual Veterans' Day Mass and Remembrance ceremony ; Keating; and Office of Marketing Communications Executive Director Ben Birnbaum in working on the memorial project.
Delaney says that the concept of an on-campus memorial developed out of the Veterans’ Day Remembrance Mass and Ceremony, an annual event initiated in 2001 and jointly sponsored by the University’s Alumni Association, Office of the Dean of Student Development, Human Resources department and Army ROTC unit. Alumni participation in the Veterans’ Day ceremony has increased each year and BC veterans and others have demonstrated a growing support of the memorial project, Delaney adds.
“We raised nearly $500,000 for the memorial from a database that we built from 2,500 names of alumni veterans,” he says, “and there are more out there that we don’t know about. We have run telethons, written letters and made calls. We have over 350 donors so far, including several major contributors to the project.”
The donations will fund the cost of the memorial.
Anyone interested in making a donation to the Veterans’ Memorial project may contact Joan Reilly at joan.reilly.1@bc.edu.
Reid Oslin can be reached at reid.oslin.1@bc.edu