Efforts are underway to erect an Airborne Memorial in Heartland of America Park to honor the service and sacrifice of the Airborne - past, present, and future - be they parachutists, gliderriders or air assault troopers.
Charlie
Buller is a retired plumber, not a public relations man, but he has some high
ideas for Omaha's ongoing Return to the River in 2003.
He
sees a large statue of a paratrooper in Heartland of America Park. A few blocks
away, a cargo plane drifts down over downtown Omaha. The doors open, and a hundred
or so paratroopers float to earth for their national meeting at the Omaha convention
center-arena.
But
first there is the matter of the approximately $190,000 that the association
will have to raise to erect what they believe is the first national memorial
to all American airborne forces.
The
city would also have to agree the airborne invasion and, said Buller, "the
Federal Aviation Administration has a lot to say about these things today."
"I
have a gut feeling it's going to work out," said Buller, a Bellevue resident
and the president of the national 11th Airborne Association.
Heartland
of America Park Omaha,
Nebraska
Buller
and his ex-paratrooper cohorts have created the fledgling Heartland Airborne
Memorial Association to launch a grass-roots campaign to make the picture live.
Miniature
replicas of the Heartland Airborne Memorial are now available for purchase.
To purchase your own Geronimo Heartland Airborne Memorial replica statue contact
Cork Jacobs: red38@mitec.net
