Alaska Veterans Memorial
At a point on the George Parks Highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks is the Alaska Veterans Memorial, the first to honour the state's veterans, erected during the summer of 1983. The memorial was made possible by legislation introduced by State Senator Charles Parr, an Army veteran from Fairbanks who recognized that Alaska was one of the few states without such a memorial.
The main part of the site consists of five 20-foot tall concrete panels, one each to represent the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, arranged in a semi-circle in a natural grove of trees. On each panel is a short history of that branch's contribution to Alaska. A statue of two members of the Alaska Territorial Guard stands at the entrance to the memorial. The binoculars of one of the ATG members is trained on the 20,237-foot Denali mountain (formally Mt. McKinley) which is only 35 miles away at that point.
Alaska Veterans Memorial
At a point on the George Parks Highway between Anchorage and Fairbanks is the Alaska Veterans Memorial, the first to honour the state's veterans, erected during the summer of 1983. The memorial was made possible by legislation introduced by State Senator Charles Parr, an Army veteran from Fairbanks who recognized that Alaska was one of the few states without such a memorial.
The main part of the site consists of five 20-foot tall concrete panels, one each to represent the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, arranged in a semi-circle in a natural grove of trees. On each panel is a short history of that branch's contribution to Alaska. A statue of two members of the Alaska Territorial Guard stands at the entrance to the memorial. The binoculars of one of the ATG members is trained on the 20,237-foot Denali mountain (formally Mt. McKinley) which is only 35 miles away at that point.