WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — After more than a decade of delays, Warner Robins is making a renewed push to build a Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
With Veterans Day approaching, the long-anticipated project is back in focus — though some veterans remain skeptical, citing previous setbacks, including a plan that fell through for a memorial near Buc-ee’s.
Vietnam veteran Tom McLendon has advocated for a memorial in Warner Robins since 2009, petitioning the city alongside fellow veterans. He said he has promised his friends that the tribute would happen.
“Every time I’d see them,” he said, “they’d ask, ‘When’s the memorial gonna be ready?’ I buried the last one this September.”
The city’s previous plans for a memorial near Buc-ee’s collapsed, further delaying the project. Warner Robins Veterans Board member Bill Carey said the project was not so much a land dispute as an issue of property rights.
“The property has to be given to the city,” Carey said, “and at that time, the city can plan ahead to put the memorial on it.”
City officials now say they are focused on securing a new site, with a goal to finalize the location within the coming months. Carey said the city already has a vision for the memorial.
“We’ve already done our plans for what we want the memorial to look like,” he said, adding that logistical details like orientation depend on the terrain. “The city has been highly involved with this, especially under the new mayor’s leadership.”
The proposed design includes a granite wall engraved with the names of Georgia veterans from the Vietnam and Gulf wars. In her State of the City address earlier this year, Mayor LaRhonda Patrick expressed the importance of building a memorial in Warner Robins, a city known for its strong military ties.
While McLendon remains cautiously hopeful, he is also frustrated by the years of unmet promises.
“If you ask me, they ain’t serious about it,” he said. “I don’t think it’ll ever get done.”
City officials plan to announce the chosen location as soon as it is secured. For now, McLendon and other veterans are waiting for further updates, hopeful that this Veterans Day might bring signs of progress on the long-awaited memorial.