Edward P. Robinson Community Veterans Memorial Munster, Indiana

This has got to be one of the most remarkable and well executed tributes to US Soldiers and Veterans in the USA. Much planning, consideration and work went into making this theme park a masterpiece. From the beginning to the end the landscaping, sculpture, walkway and self tour are presented with honor and grace.

It is with humbled admiration, and great pride, I share here, this worthy dedication for those who fought for our freedom. I am thankful and blessed to be a citizen of the great USA. I offer my utmost respect for those who designed and installed the Edward P. Robinson Community Veterans Memorial Park.

The Truth Is

I went to high school in Munster Indiana back in the early 1970's. There was a war going on and many friends and family members were being drafted to fight that war. I was really just a kid, living in my own little world, and not honestly aware of all that military conflicts entail.

Yes, Vietnam was all over the television, so were the war protesters. Honestly I leaned real hard toward the anti-violent, youthful way of thinking. My friends were coming back with legs missing and minds blown. It all seemed so ugly to my young mind. War just did not make any sense to me. Truly, violence of any kind still makes me feel sad. I want so much for life to be peaceful, for a world peace, in fact.

That is why it took me several years to visit the new Community Veterans Memorial Park. I just hated to think about any of it. Out of sight, out of mind. Then about two years ago I was driving down Calumet Avenue, which I do quite often, and I happened to catch a red light right in front of the park. My eyes searched the landscape as I waited for a green light.

The spewing fountain grasped my attention and the landscaping pulled at my creative spirit. I remember my friend's mother saying she had walked through the park and was quite surprised and very impressed by the park lay out. She said it was something to see. With that thought in mind I decided it was time for me to go check it out the next time I had an opportunity.

Now the beautiful landscape is what caught my attention. I have watched as the plant installations have begun to grow and fill out the space provided. There is a certain sense of hope and faith for my personal feelings when I think about plants and seeds and the future. I liken a kinship of that hope when I think about planting the seeds of Love and Freedom. So the landscape growing into maturity made me feel good as I started my self guided tour at Community Veterans Memorial Park.

Right off the walkway pulls you in a direction toward the flags flying high. The pathway itself is made of bricks and laid out in a pattern. This is where the story of conflict over a time period beckons to your attention. Engraved in some of the bricks are the dates and from one date to the next there are more bricks with historical clips. The events that took place to shape the history of war in the 20th century.

Honor on a Path for Freedom's Sake

You can not help but take notice. Each brick interlocking the next and carrying your mind as you read and take into your head the depth of it. large areas are engraved with the names of fallen soldiers, their military rank and their life span in dates. Slowly you begin to feel a certain spiritual uprising within your heart. At least that is how it affected me.

The power of it pushes forth a lump in your throat and a certain feeling of faintness takes over your emotions. The bricks with the names of the fallen seems endless. It makes you pay attention and at the same time it makes you feel blessed. These are only paving bricks, but the lay in tribute to soldiers, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, nephews and husbands who gave their life so that we have the freedom to walk in a park near our home.

Taking Freedom For Granted

This memorial park puts the truth of Military, War and peace into a different perspective for someone like myself, who decided not to pay attention to what was going on in Vietnam. As I approached the first station that depicts a specific military event I could not help but think about how I was feeling. There was a lump in my throat and I was feeling very vulnerable.

I started thinking about how a US War Veteran must feel when they come to visit this amazing memorial. Judging from my own reactions I began to realize just how hard it must be for those who fought and survived. my heart was beginning to fog my brain with emotions.

I worked in Texas with a man who had been a prisoner during Vietnam. He was not an American. Kahn was Vietnamese. He was a spry little man on the quiet side and never seemed to get frustrated with the work we did. He never seemed to get angry, nor tired nor relaxed. He did his job, and was thoughtful, in the smallest of his actions, toward our fellow workers. Over time we became good friends.

I learned that Kahn had been a POW during Vietnam. He spent 17 years captive and had been brutalized and degraded and when it was all over Kahn was forced to leave his homeland and family behind. He came to the USA to save his own life and to start over. Kahn knew that living in the USA was not perfect but it was FREE.

I could not help but think about Kahn as my emotions took hold of my spirit as I toured through this park. I though about how blessed I was and how sad the fight for freedom truly must be. death and destruction, pain, agony, and sacrifice....for me, for me to be free.

Tribute to All Veterans Depicted In Creative Form and Fashion

To remember, to educate, and to challenge is what the park brochure states. By the time I reached the first station, after walking past a beautiful fountain, in a small pond, I realized the people who put this park together had done a marvelous job. This Veterans Memorial is a masterpiece.

From the free standing sculptures to the life size structural designs the details are enlightening. Along the pathway the continuous rows of engraved bricks carry you forward. Some of the stations are equipped with pre-recorded, informative tributes that highlight specific military events. While other locations are marked in bronze scripture paying the highest tribute to all veterans.

This project is majestic. It was executed with style and it is something worth going out of your way to visit. Located at 9710 calumet avenue in Munster Indiana just 2.5 miles south of I 80/94. the park admission is free and it is open from dawn til dusk, weather permitting.

You can become a part of the Edward P. Robinson Community Veterans Memorial too. If you would like to pay tribute to a loved one who sacrificed of themselves to serve in US Military the park has a special brick program. Bricks can be purchased for a specified donation and customized for you. The bricks are placed in the park twice each year, in the spring and in the fall. Learn more by calling 219-836-3392.

You can also make a donation toward the preservation and maintenance of the park facilities. See the official website for details.

The first time I visited this park I was so overwhelmed half way through the tour that I had to get away from my friend who went with me. I could not talk and almost could not breathe for the lump in my throat. My emotions were touched with a depth that not only surprised me but it left me feeling sad for all of those names with no faces engraved on the bricks.

I was taken back with a spiritual leveling that really is impossible to put into words. Since that time I make it a point to go visit this park from time to time. It is a park filled with sadness, filled with hope, filled with love and honor. This is a sacred place built on a promise of freedom for all. It is a place to go visit, to embrace with your heart, a place to share with your children, your family and your friends.

A Park For All Seasons

Lest we forget what freedom stands for, Edward P. Robinson Community Veterans Memorial is a place for everyone to visit, to respect and to remember. It is a park for all to pay tribute to those men and women who so gallantly served in the 20th Century US Military. This is a park worth driving out of your way to remind everyone to count their blessings. You will probably leave with a lump in your throat and a tear in your heart and be thankful for the US Military and those who have served.