Navasota sculptor J. Payne Lara’s new work depicting a Gulf War-era tank commander at Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial (BVVM) is tucked away along the Lynn Stuart Pathway, a half-mile wooded trail in a southeast corner of College Station’s Veterans Park & Athletic Complex. The work is the latest installation at the 12-acre memorial site that includes informational panels, a Wall of Honor, and memorial sites, and bronze statues that depict U.S. military conflicts throughout history. To reach the new display, visitors take a short but
sobering walk along the path, named in honor of retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Louis Lynn Stuart, lined with haunting, life-size depictions of soldiers from most American wars, some taken from snapshots. The statues can elicit a powerful range of emotions — from triumphant and exuberant to quietly sad. One U.S. Marine is portrayed charging over a wall during the Mexican War. A young President George H.W. Bush is shown preparing to board his aircraft during World War II, and another soldier takes a quiet moment alone to read a letter from home. Farther down the trail, the Korean War memorial — entitled “We Go Together” — depicts American and South Korean soldiers walking side by side, working together despite their language barrier.
The Gulf War installation designed by Jim Singleton — a U.S. Army combat helicopter pilot in Vietnam — is one of the largest at the site and depicts a dismounted tank brigade commander shouting orders as he moves through a sandpit. Board President and Lt. Gen. Randolph House — who served as a tank brigade commander in the Gulf War — conceptualized the scene. All of the commander’s gear — from his desert-patterned uniform, to the gas mask strapped to his thigh, to his holstered pistol — is accurate to life. Behind him, a tank looms large on a tan panel as if it is rolling over the dunes. Steve Beachy, special assistant to the president of the BVVM board, says that while a tank commander was originally supposed to be inside the tank, the board took creative license and placed him outside guiding it.
The installation is still incomplete. Eventually, four bronze panels will be included to depict Gulf War-era vehicles, including an F-117 stealth bomber, an Apache helicopter, a Navy cruiser, and a U.S. Marine amphibious vehicle so that all of the different service branches would be included, Beachy says. When the installation proved to be too large to be contained by an original location, it caused a shift, so the Gulf War and Kosovo War sites had to be moved farther down the Lynn Stuart Pathway, Beachy says. Sidewalks and border edging will be added to the display, and signs with information about both wars, still posted at their former sites, will be moved soon, he says.
Looming large along the path is the red granite Wall of Honor at the Louis L. Adam Memorial Plaza. It is central to the Brazos Valley Veterans Memorial and features more than 6,000 military veteran names are etched on its slick surface. More names continue to be added each Veteran’s Day. Those veterans from all periods of U.S. history represent beloved friends and family of people in the Brazos Valley and beyond. They include 24 presidents and the names of past Texas A&M University students who have received the Medal of Honor. At the top is a bronze sculpture by artist Robert Eccleston representing a G.I. carrying a fellow soldier to safety.
BVVM continues to improve and add to the entire memorial of 22 U.S. conflicts that include all of the World Wars, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the War of 1812, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and more. One of the most chilling is the War on Terror memorial with only a steel relic from a World Trade Center tower following 9/11.
The organization aims to add one or two new statues a year and is planning to include a female pilot from the Kosovo War display next, Beachy says. The goal is to have all installations in place by 2026. The World War II display, in particular, still needs several statues to make sure it fully represents the scope of the war, he says. BVVM represents sacrifices made by brave Americans. “This is the place where duty, honor, and country meet the pursuit of happiness,” Beachy says. The cities of Bryan and College Station, Brazos County, and numerous private donors made the memorial possible. According to the BVVM website, the nonprofit’s mission is to pay tribute to veterans through an educational venue so “future generations can learn that freedom comes with a heavy price.” “In reality, this project is never going to be done,” Beachy says.
