PIMA — After years of planning, designs and location changes, the memorial to the Pima men who lost their lives during World War II will soon be open to the public.
During Tuesday’s Pima Town Council meeting, Town Manager Vernon Batty said the memorial is expected to be ready for dedication by Memorial Day weekend in May.
“I’ve hired landscapers; I’ve confirmed with Brandt Woods, who is doing the mural; and where we’re getting the monuments and the brickwork can be done by then,” Batty said. “The only thing is the statute. I’m working on making sure that that can be realistically be done by then.”
The memorial will be located at the corner of 100 South and Main Street, across from Pima Elementary, and could share the lot with the Pima Library if that is the location selected when the library relocates for a new fire station.
The memorial was designed by two Pima High School students — Hannah Lofgreen and Analicia Sanchez — in 2021. There will be seven flag poles — one for four of the branches of the military services and one each for police and fire services — and three memorial stones — one with the names of the Pima men killed during World War II, one with an image of a bell, and the third thanking all who contributed to the memorial — in addition to the mural and statue.
There were 867 residents of Pima according to the 1940 U.S. Census. The 27 men who died during World War II represented 3 percent of the town’s population which, on a per capita basis, was the greatest loss of life by any city or town in the United States during the war.
That loss was addressed on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., in 2023.
“It is clear that these Arizonans have a strong dedication to not only each other and their community, but service to our country as a whole,” Ciscomani said.
