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| :: Texas A&M Hosts Memorial:
Physical Plant Teamwork Praised |
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A travelling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Wall graced the grounds of the George Bush Presidential
Library and Museum for the week of April 16-22. At
240 feet long by 8 feet high, the travelling wall
is a three-quarter-scale version of the memorial in
Washington, D.C.
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Site preparation began
in March when Landscape’s Roads and Pavements team
used over 500 cubic yards of fill material to level
a 290-foot-long base for the memorial. Actual construction
began on April 12 as Construction Crew 1 cut and installed
the boardwalk’s foundation boards. The boardwalk
travels with the memorial but the frame that it rests
on is built at each location. |
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The next day, wall panels were unloaded from the truck
and erected by Construction Crew 1, Construction Crew
4, and the Moving and Setup Crew. (Each panel weighs
approximately 250 pounds and is made of a fiberboard
backing, fiberglass with embedded granite chips, and
a polyurethane coating.) Utilities Distribution provided
electrical service and Construction Crew 5 installed
lighting. Landscape Maintenance West planted and mulched
around the many holly and crepe myrtle shrubs along
the front of the boardwalk. LMW also planted the flower
arrangement that surrounded the flag pole area. Construction
crews placed the flagpoles.
The display was open to the public on Friday, April
16 and a colorful and moving opening ceremony was
held that night. On April 20, President Bush laid
a wreath at the wall. After a week of ceremony and
reflection, the crews dismantled the wall, removed
the landscaping, and restored the site. The wall was
loaded in sections back onto the truck for its trip
to Fort Worth. From there, it will continue to travel
nationwide.
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| SCI Corporation, the parent company of two
local funeral homes (Memorial Funeral Chapel
and Southwood Funeral Home) owns the wall and
sponsors its travels around the country. They
built the first wall in the mid-1980s. It was
retired due to wear and tear from travelling
in the early 1990s. The current wall has been
traveling since then. |
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Tony Stephens, Funeral Director of Memorial Funeral
Chapel, has nothing but praise for the efforts of
the Physical Plant personnel who worked on erecting
the Memorial Wall on campus. “We could not have
done it without the Physical Plant and have it come
off as well as it did. Our company and everyone on
our committee was very impressed,” Tony says.
“Steve Young, who works for our parent company
and has built that wall over 20 times, said this particular
setup went the smoothest and the quickest of any he
had been involved with before.”
Mike Goldwater, Assistant Director for Facilities
Maintenance and Renovation, is extremely proud of
the Physical Plant folks that helped make this event
a success. “Utilities Distribution, Landscape
and Pavements Maintenance, the Moving and Setup Crew,
and Construction and Renovation pulled together as
a team and accomplished an outstanding effort with
the erection and landscaping of the memorial,”
Mike says. “Steve Young of SCI Corporation told
me he would trade ten of his employees for just one
of the Physical Plant workers who helped erect the
wall.”
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