Efforts to develop the East Mississippi Veterans Memorial Park continued Thursday with a donation of $10,000 from the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation supporting the park’s construction.

Brad Crawford, President of the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation, said the foundation’s mission is to support veterans and veterans’ causes throughout the state. Helping bring the East Mississippi Veterans Memorial Park to fruition “just made sense,” he said.

“One of the objectives of the G.V. “Sonny” Montgomery Foundation is to support veteran projects and our foundation is extremely proud to support the efforts of the East Mississippi Veterans Foundation with this contribution that will help in creating the East Mississippi Veterans Memorial Park,” he said.

East Mississippi Veterans Foundation President Jeff Summerlin said the donation would be put to good use preparing a site for a wall of remembrance at the park with footings and a concrete pad for the wall to rest on.

“Today’s presentation of $10,000, it is my foundation’s intention to have the slab area and the footing for the wall of remembrance fixed and prepared for the actual wall,” he said.

Plans to develop a veterans memorial park in Meridian began in 2018 with efforts to secure a retired RF-4C Raptor jet formerly flown from the Mississippi Air National Guard station at Key Field. Summerlin located the plane in Arizona and coordinated with the City of Meridian to claim it and have it brought to the park.

The plane is currently set to be moved, and the foundation is waiting on the moving company to have availability, Summerlin said. However, work on other parts of the park are continuing.

The East Mississippi Veterans Memorial Park project is split into phases, Summerlin said. When complete, the park will feature the EF-4C Raptor, a wall of remembrance, the Freedom Walkway and an Armed Forces Plaza. Ideas are also being floated about a possible walking trail and other features that could be added to the park during construction or later on, he said.

Summerlin said it was important for Meridian to have a place to recognize and honor the military service men and women from East Mississippi.

Meridian, he said, is home to the Air National Guard unit at Key Field, NAS Meridian and a place thousands of veterans from all branches of the military call home.

“It’s only fitting that Meridian has a veterans memorial park because of the fact of the population that’s connected to the military in the Meridian and the East Mississippi area,” he said.

The park will be located northeast of the Meridian Regional Airport on 1.25 acres.

For more information about the East Mississippi Veterans Memorial Foundation or to support the park construction, visit emsvf.org.