The U.S. Air Force will be the first to be honored in a series of five new memorials at the Veteran’s Cemetery in Igo. Eventually, an individual monument for each branch of the military will be constructed around the main flag pole.
This project is still in the early stages but organizers are convinced it is going to play a large role in the future of the Igo cemetery.
Colonel Pete Stiglich is spearheading the first monument. It has been dubbed "Into the Wild Blue Yonder" and will honor the Air Force. It will stand about 14 feet high and depict a plane circling the world and protecting the United States.
Organizers are still looking for people from the other branches of the military to spearhead their monuments.
"We have a lot of really wonderful monuments here, memorials to various units and various conflicts and wars but we do not have any memorials for the individuals services,” Said Stiglich.
"So these monuments recognize both the living and the dead, their contributions and their sacrifices. So when we dedicate these, we remember all of them and not just the folks that lay here,” said Mike Coffey with the Northern California Veterans Cemetery.
Although there are currently only plans for this first monument, space has been set aside for the four remaining branches of the military.
The air force memorial is expected to cost about $200,000 which organizers hope to raise through donations and dedication stones around the memorials edge.
The memorial is expected to be completed in 2013
