Ferris wants city to hurry with memorial, his Korean War vets are “old”

Memorial could go up at
Veterans Freedom Park

Approval for a Korean War Veterans memorial is pending at a park board meeting tonight in La Crosse. 

Plans for the memorial have changed since Louis Ferris of the local Korean War Veterans association started fundraising for it last fall.

It’s a much bigger project now, which is fine, according to Ferris, as long as it gets done soon.

“I’m going to be a little pushy and aggressive, because we don’t have much time,” Ferris said. “We’re all 85 years and up. We’re all old.”

Ferris originally was looking for less than $3,000 for a plaque to put in Riverside Park.

Now, however, he has raised over $16,000 with matching funds pledged by the city.

The memorial will now include a series of plaques, some seating, a walking path, even a tree planted in the middle of the whole thing, called Liberty Tree.

The memorial will likely get built in the Veterans Freedom Park on the city’s north side. Construction could get underway on the memorial this summer.