Nonprofit formed to manage Wall of Honor

WASILLA — Planning for the future of the long-time focal point of veterans’ celebrations in the Mat-SU Valley remained underway as veterans planned to gather there for this year’s Memorial Day festivities.

The Veterans’ Wall of Honor monument in Wasilla includes both the wall itself — which lists the names of dozens of veterans who lived in the Mat-Su and with family in the Mat-Su — as well as smaller monuments and plaques erected by various veterans and community groups. For more than two decades, the monument has occupied a spot on property adjacent to the former Mat-Su Visitors Center (which housed the Mat-Su Convention and Visitor’s Bureau), where since 1992 it has served as the go-to location for Memorial and Veterans Day events as well as a location for ashes of fallen service members to be scattered.

But the Mat-Su Borough sold the property in November 2015 to Spring Creek Capital, LLC for $1.25 million, and the group’s president, Doug Clegg, says he intends to build a multimillion-dollar critical care facility on the property.

Clegg has said he’ll have to relocate the monument elsewhere on the property. However, when Clegg announced the possible relocation, his company drew public criticism from veterans and their families, who consider the site to be hallowed ground.

Since then, Clegg has established a nonprofit governed by a board of directors drawn from local veterans’ organizations, including AMVETS, the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. John and Hazel Schwulst, who have maintained the monument out of pocket for decades under the aegis of the Areawide Services Council, also serve on the board. The purpose of the nonprofit will be to manage and maintain the monument.

Spring Creek has agreed to provide utility connections and electricity for the monument. Clegg said working with the veterans groups has been a productive experience.

“It’s a blessing,” he said. “They’re such a great group of people.”

The relocation plan isn’t about making money, Clegg said.

“The goal here is that 27 percent of the population of the Mat-Su Borough is veterans and they’re going to be living with us,” he said. “They’re going to be part of this ongoing legacy.”

The likely spot for the monument will be a triangular-shaped corner of the existing property. The eventual goal will be to take the area containing the monument and bequeath it to the foundation, Clegg said.

The exact form that the final monument will take hasn’t yet been determined, but could be set following a workshop on June 8 with an architect retained by Spring Creek, Clegg said.

Don Dyer is the foundation’s executive director, and said the meetings are going to be closed to the public for the time being while board members — some of whom have never served on public boards or committees before — learn to work together cohesively.

“I think they just need to be able to work in a way where they can speak freely to one another,” he said.

Plans will not affect Memorial Day ceremonies planned at the site on Monday, said Mark Schwulst.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.

Area Memorial Day events:

• Alaska Gov. Bill Walker has ordered all flags lowered on Monday in honor of Memorial Day.

• Fort Richardson National Cemetery will host a Memorial Day Ceremony starting at noon Monday.

• Memorial Day ceremonies organized by American Legion Post 35 are set to take place at 1 p.m. on Monday at the Veterans Wall of Honor monument, which is located at 7744 Visitors View Court near Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

• The Wasilla Memorial Day parade starts at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, and the route will lead from the Wasilla Post Office (401 Main Street) to the Aurora Cemetery on Wasilla Fishhook Road.