19 Jun 2017 Honoring UCA alums ‘who gave the ultimate’
by Donna Lampkin Stephens
Mike Kemp photos
In 1946, what is now the University of Central Arkansas honored 47 alumni who had died in service during World War II with a memorial oak tree planted on campus for each one.
In 2003, UCA dedicated a World War II Memorial, a granite monument listing the names of those killed, on the south end of the lawn in front of McAlister Hall.
In November 2016, the university honored the 26 alumni who died in other conflicts with the dedication of the UCA War Memorial on the north end of the McAlister lawn.
“It is fitting and proper that we honor our alums who have made the ultimate sacrifice for us,” said former UCA President Tom Courtway prior to the dedication. “With this memorial and the World War II Memorial, we now have all of our alums listed. While we pray and hope additional names will never be added, there is room to do so. We, as a community, are very grateful and proud as we dedicate this memorial.”
Jimmy Bryant, university historian and director of the UCA Archives who served as chair of the UCA War Memorial Committee established by Courtway, said there was a reason why the previous focus had been on World War II.
“It was the most concentrated number and the biggest event of the 20th century,” he said.
Courtway was the impetus for the new UCA War Memorial project, which started in 2014. “Tom asked me if there was a way to determine the names of all UCA alumni who died in all wars and hostile actions with the exception of World War II since UCA began operation in 1908,” Bryant said. “Whatever else Tom did while president, to me this was the most worthwhile thing.”
Courtway said Bryant gave him too much credit.
“The important thing is that with this War Memorial, we now have places on our campus to honor those service men and women who died protecting us, our families and everything this nation believes in and stands for,” he said. “We are all thrilled with it, and it adds to the campus and is a fitting and proper (and overdue) tribute to these heroes.”
It was not an easy undertaking.
Bryant said the first step was to determine the list of hostile actions since 2008. The big ones, he said, were World War I, Korea, Vietnam and the Global War on Terror. Others were the 1967 USS Liberty Incident; Operation Desert Claw (attempt to rescue hostages in Iran in 1980); the Lebanon Marine barracks bombing Oct. 23, 1983; Invasion of Grenada in 1983; Persian Gulf escorts, USS Stark attack in Persian Gulf, May 17, 1987; invasion of Panama, 1989; Somalia, 1993; First Gulf War, 1991; Haiti, 1994-95; and Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1995-2004.
Research revealed the following UCA alumni now honored on the nearly seven-foot black granite War Memorial, seven feet wide and weighing approximately 7,000 pounds:
World War I
PV1 William H. Conger, Army
PFC Phillip G. Gillham, Army
Korean War
Capt. Troy G. Cope, Air Force
1LT Melvin E. Mahar, Army
1LT Richard N. McLeod, Jr., Army
Vietnam War
PO3 Samuel M. Boyce, Navy
Major Chambless M. Chestnutt, Air Force
Corporal Jesse Cunningham, Jr., Marine Corps
Major Charles E. Darr, Air Force
WO1 Darrell L. Haggard, Army
SGM Raymond L. Long, Jr., Army
PO2 Ralph L. McCoy, Jr., Navy
Corporal Ronald L. Pendergist, Army
SP4 Gary D. Polk, Army
Pfc Gregory K. Reeves, Marine Corps
SP4 Richard F. Wells, Army
SP4 Donald N. White, Army
Sgt. Thomas F. Young, Marine Corps
Somalia
CW3 Donovan L. Briley, Army
Global War on Terror
CPO Adam L. Brown, Navy
HM2 Michael V. Johnson, Jr., Navy
Capt. Gussie M. Jones, Army
Corporal Dustin L. Kendall, Army
LTC Paul W. Kimbrough, Army
2LT Stuart F. Liles, Army
Sergeant Michael R. Sturdivant, Army
Once the names were determined, Bryant’s committee, which also included Lt. Brad Moore, Dr. Brent Shires, David Williams, Denicha Kemp, Kevin Carter, Kimberly Klotz, Lt. Col. Michael Condon, Major Teria Belgrave, Dr. Michael Mills, Dr. Scott Nadler, Dr. Shaneil Ealy, Tracy Tidwell, Velton Daves, Amanda Bryant and Edman Wilkes, worked on the design.
“The end result was we wanted it to be very much like the World War II Memorial because we wanted consistency, and the members liked the design of that one,” Bryant said. “We were going to make this look like that except larger. We didn’t want it to be just the names there.
“We know that in future decades, the next 50 years or so, there’s going to be other names added. That’s a sad thought, but also a fact of life. President Courtway wanted it to be larger than what was required for the present so a future monument wouldn’t be required anytime soon. So that’s what we did.”
After planning and design came the location. The committee chose the site opposite the World War II Memorial.
“The World War II Memorial is in a convenient location between sidewalks,” Bryant said. “For this one to the north on the other side of the lawn, sidewalks were built around it so it would be handicap-accessible. People can go right up to the monument.”
Like the WWII Memorial, the new War Memorial is illuminated with lights each night.
It was dedicated during UCA’s 19th Veterans Day celebration Nov. 3, 2016.
“It was nearly Veterans Day, and what struck me about the importance of this thing was that morning I saw a lady younger than me taking a piece of paper and a pencil and etching her son’s name,” Bryant said.
“It’s hard to work on this. You see these guys, and they died young. The Vietnam guys, most of them didn’t have families. Their parents are gone now. We didn’t have the ability to contact many of the family members of the Vietnam vets because there weren’t many.”
Courtway, who left the presidency shortly after the dedication, thanked Bryant, the committee and the UCA Physical Plant, among others, who worked on the project.
“But most of all, thanks to those UCA alums who gave the ultimate,” he said. “We owe them our never-ending gratitude and prayers for what they did for all of us.”
