Maintaining veterans memorial a labor of love for family

WASILLA — As the Mat-Su continues to be the fastest-growing borough in Alaska, many newcomers to the Valley may not know the Schwulst family. Chances are, though, they’re familiar with their work.

For more than 21 years, Hazel Schwulst, husband, John, and son, Mark, have worked behind the scenes, helping build, maintain and update the Veterans’ Wall of Honor. The wall, located just off the Parks Highway next to the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau, bears the names of some 2,300 veterans, men and women who honorable served their country in the armed forces.

“I just believe in it, and I will always be here as long as I can,” said an emotional Hazel while visiting the wall Thursday afternoon. “There are a lot of our friends on there.”

Those names — neat rows of white carved into panels of granite — represent veterans of all branches of military service. Some are deceased, some were killed in action, others are still on active duty. The wall is for all veterans, and not just those from the Valley, said Hazel, a longtime AMVETS member.

“It’s for anyone who’s done any military service, as long as they were released with an honorable discharge,” said Mark, who also goes by “Preacher.”

As the son of a Marine, Mark “was raised with it all my life,” he said. He served in the U.S. Army in the late 1970s, then in 1980 joined the Merchant Marines. He also has a brother, uncles and a nephew who served, and all are on the Veterans’ Wall of Honor.

“They’re spread all over the place on the wall,” he said.

John is equally proud of his service — “once a Marine, always a Marine” — and did a lot of the sandblasting to etch the names into the wall panels.

“It’s been 20-some years we’ve been doing this, but things have slowed down to a crawl lately,” he said. “It seems World War II, Korea, Vietnam I would say is 95 percent (of soldiers represented on the wall). After that, it’s slowed down.”

John said the family hasn’t spent the past 21 years building and maintaining the wall for recognition or glory, and they certainly haven’t done it alone.

“I think it just shows our patriotism and our respect for the military,” he said. “We know quite a few on there, at least a couple on each panel.”

Asked how many names he sandblasted into the wall’s panels of the years, he looks to the wall and starts to count. “Well let’s see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 …”

From the beginning, every name on the wall has begun with Hazel making a stencil for either John or Mark to use to blast into the granite. That the family even began doing that work was a happy accident, she said. That’s because someone had promised to carve the names into the first panel in 1992 in time for Memorial Day.

“Well, they went over to pick it up and she hadn’t even started it,” Hazel said. “She told me that’s just too bad, that she’s the only one in the Valley (who could do the work), so if you don’t like it, tough. Well, that’s the wrong thing to say to me.”

That’s when she decided to do it herself, “and ever since, almost all the names I have done myself,” she said. “I bought a computer, I got the stencil, I got a sandblaster, I got the stencil cutter and I went at it. And I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Since the Veterans’ Wall of Honor made its first public appearance on Veterans Day 1992, the location has become the focal point for Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies in the Valley. And as the area has grown, so has the memorial, which has seen expansion to accommodate more panels of names.

Participation in those veterans events “has grown since the beginning,” Mark said. “I remember one year there were over 800 people here. They were parked all the way down.”

The satisfaction comes with recognizing those who accept the sacrifices that come with military service, he said.

“We know that we’ve had our hands into something that everybody’s proud of out here in the Valley,” Mark said.

Now the Schwulsts need a little help for upkeep at the memorial site. It seems one of the panels has cracked, with the fissure running through the names. The family is helping raise funds to produce a new panel to replace the damaged one, a Wall of Honor dinner. From 6 to 8 p.m., Feb. 8, at AMVETS Post 9, supporters can enjoy a dinner of Swiss steak, homemade mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, salad, dinner roll and dessert for $15. There will also be a silent auction featuring some great items, including a .40-caliber handgun.

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.

What: Wall of Honor dinner.

When: 6 to 8 p.m., Feb. 8

Where: AMVETS Post 9, 1591 Creste Foris St. Wasilla.

Cost: $15

Contact: For more information, call Mark Schwulst at 982-6141.