July 23, 2014
After four years of fundraising, ground was broken on Tuesday morning at Fort Hood, TX for a memorial honoring the victims of the November 5, 2009 shooting.
The structure will honor the 13 killed and 32 wounded on November 5, 2009, when former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan opened fire in a medical facility used as part of the Soldier Readiness Processing Center.
Sculptures of objects symbolizing each of the individuals killed in the attack will sit atop granite columns around the perimeter of the open-air pavilion.
An American flag rises from a granite pyramid soaring into the sky. On each side of the pyramid the names of the 32 wounded and 13 killed are inscribed with the history of the day on one side.
Joleen Cahill, widow of retired Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Cahill — the only civilian killed in the shooting said, “Some wounds from that day will never heal, but the memorial will help bring a sense of peace. There are hundreds still healing from the wounds of that day, wounds which are physical and wounds that are invisible,” she said. “The memorial will help bring peace and a closure to many.”
Among the victims of the 2009 massacre was a Plymouth native, Army Staff Sergeant Justin DeCrow.
Our news partners at WNDU assisted with this story.