Fayetteville could get America’s first memorial park for the Green Berets. Here’s the plan

Paul Woolverton,

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An organization of retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers — Green Berets — is trying to create the first national memorial park for their regiment, and they want to put it in downtown Fayetteville.

But there may be a hitch: The site the retired Green Berets are asking for has been designated for the next phase of the North Carolina Veterans Park. The first part of the Veterans Park opened in 2011. It has monuments and exhibits to honor North Carolina veterans from all military branches (except the U.S. Space Force, which was established in 2019).

The Fayetteville City Council voted 9-1 on Monday to pursue the idea of providing 9.3 acres of land for the Army Special Forces park, and to have the city staff research whether there would be a conflict with the state government if the site is used to honor just the Green Berets instead of all veterans.

The proposed design for the National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial Park, if it will be built in Fayetteville on Bragg Boulevard next to the North Carolina Veterans Park.

Green Beret vets seek 99-year lease for proposed 9.3-acre park site

On Monday, members of the National Special Forces Green Beret Memorial foundation appeared before the City Council at the behest of Councilman Johnny Dawkins and asked to lease two plots of land on Bragg Boulevard for their proposed park, for $1 per year for 99 years. The 9.3 acres are on Bragg Boulevard at Rowan Street, by the North Carolina Veterans Park and near the U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum.

“So the national SF park is going to be unique in the world,” retired Lt. Col. Kirk Windmueller, the president and director of the Green Beret Memorial foundation, told the City Council. “There will be only one of these world-class parks. And it’s meant to rival any monument and memorial that’s currently in our nation's — our nation’s capital.”

The estimated $70 million project would complement the state Veterans Park and Airborne & Special Operations Museum, Windmueller said, “to attract increased visitors and tourism to the complex, and to honor our soldiers and enhance the historic legacy of Fayetteville as the home of the legendary Airborne and Special Forces at Fort Liberty.”

In an interview later, Windmueller said special operations forces from the other military branches have full-fledged memorials, while the Green Berets have the Special Warfare Memorial Statue at Fort Liberty. The 22-foot statue is affectionally known as “Bronze Bruce.”

Fort Liberty memorials: John Wayne helped pay for a statue. A time capsule has a JFK letter. Other monuments honor the military.

Park to be shaped like the Special Forces insignia

Artist Rebecca A. Clark is designing the park. Its footprint would be in the shape of an arrowhead, based on the Special Forces insignia, she said.

A sketch she prepared shows the Special Forces crest in black granite and silver-toned metal in the middle of the grounds, and this would be lit up at night. The park would include a monument to Green Beret Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, a memorial wall for those killed in action and killed in training, monuments to Special Forces operations in various parts of the world, a monument to recognize the soldiers’ families, and a ceremony field.

Other details, from Clark and Windmueller:

The Green Beret Memorial foundation is not asking the City Council for money — it is raising money from private donors.

A $10 million endowment fund is being set up to maintain and staff the park in perpetuity.

The foundation hopes to begin construction within five years.

The $70 million in construction would be done in phases, with the first phase estimated at $40 million.

The memorial will also recognize the Office of Strategic Services — a World War II organization that is the predecessor of the Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency.

Is Fayetteville allowed to do this for the Green Berets?

The park would be in the district of City Councilwoman Shakeyla Ingram. She brought up that the site was originally intended for a new section of the North Carolina Veterans Park, and the state government gave the land to the city for that purpose.

“When we asked for conveyance of property, that was because we were getting ready to move forward on Veterans Park phase 2, which was pretty much our plan, correct?” she asked City Manager Doug Hewett. She also asked if there were design proposals for the next part of the Veterans Park.

Hewett said Ingram was correct. “I don’t think, again, this is necessarily inconsistent with the overall goal” of the state Veterans Park, Hewett said. “But this is not the state Veterans Park, phase 2.”

Ingram was the only council member to vote against using the land for the Green Beret park.

The city has told the state, “Hey, we're prepared to move forward on Veterans Park phase 2. We got the land. And now we're going to do something different," Ingram said. “And I remember when we got a significant dollar amount from the state, there was question about trying to do something different, and with the funding. And it was said to us, well, if we do something different, that can look (like) ill will on our behalf.”

Dawkins, the councilman who brought this Green Beret park request to the City Council, said the Green Beret park addresses the Veterans Park question by including an area to honor all armed forces veterans.

Clark in an interview said her design has a walkway around the perimeter where monuments can be placed for veterans of the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard and Space Force. The Green Beret Memorial Park would be an expansion of the state Veterans Park, she said.