Rallying to restore memorial

Work to refurbish the World War II Memorial at Coal Dock Park in Port Washington is expected to begin this month.

Mike Keller, who has been raising money to restore the memorial, said last week that he has enough money for the project to move ahead.

It’s been estimated the renovation will cost about $30,000, and a $10,000 grant from the We Energies Foundation kick started the project.

The sale of engraved bricks placed around the memorial went well, raising about $11,000, Keller said.

He is continuing to sell engraved bricks for the walkway to the memorial, with proceeds placed into a maintenance fund for the memorial.

Keller said he’s been humbled by the donations and community support the project has garnered. 

“It’s been amazing,” he said. “People really got behind this.”

Keller said he’s been working with city staff members to get the project bid, and with a contractor in place work will start in September.

The goal is to get the memorial refurbished by Veterans Day on Nov. 11, but Keller said he’s hoping to hold a rededication of the memorial the weekend before since Veterans Day is on a Tuesday.

Keller, a retired Port Washington police captain, has been working on the project for much of the last year after several people concerned about the condition of the memorial sought him out last Veterans Day.

The problem isn’t with the memorial itself, Keller said. It’s the pathway of engraved bricks, many of them memorial bricks engraved with the names of veterans.

A number of the bricks are discolored, while others have been dislodged by the freeze-thaw cycle, creating an uneven walkway.

The work includes removing the entire brick area, preserving as many of the memorial bricks as possible, removing the base, installing drain tiles to ensure proper drainage, doing some electrical work, installing a new base for the pavers and then restoring the bricks.

Bricks that can’t be salvaged will be replaced at no cost to the people who originally purchased them.

As part of the project, the engraved “Wisconsin” on the south side of the memorial, which has faded, will be colored.

The World War II Memorial is a replica of the Wisconsin Pillar at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

It was brought to the city by the Stars and Stripes Honor Flight, which was established locally by former Port Mayor Joe Dean.

The replica pillar was displayed at Miller Park in Milwaukee —now American Family Field — for the premiere of the documentary “Honor Flight,” and Dean then proposed it be installed in the park.

“We thought it would be a nice tip of the hat to bring this replica to Port Washington, which is our hub,” Dean said at the time. “We’re proud of the fact our hub is in Port Washington.”

A sign at the site contains a replica of the stars found at the national monument. The star, which memorializes those killed in the war, is placed so it is illuminated when the sun shines through the memorial at 11:11 a.m. on Veterans Day.