Building a Wall of Honor
By Cody Berry
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been hard at work combining lists of local WWII veterans together. The idea was to pay homage to the men and women from Saline County that answered the call to serve during the Second World War. Inspired by Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., I went about creating my wall.
I found a copy of My Country Called by Arnold Wright in the Gann Museum. So, I copied down every name from that book and even enlisted help from our friends at The Saline Courier and a couple of online sources as well. After combining those lists, I copied and pasted the names into a design on Canva with help from our own Kari Lapp. Kari helped me find a design that looked right and was easy to read. When the list was complete, Kari printed the panels for me, and I spent a day mounting them on poster boards and finally on the wall.
The CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas says that an estimated 194,645 Arkansans served in various branches of the US military during WWII.1 What I have learned from this project is that several hundred of them had ties to Saline County. I also included two more lists to supplement my Wall of Honor; one of known casualties and one of POWs. As I learn more, this is an idea that I want to do again with new names added in so that my list will be more accurate.
The flowers hanging from the wall are red poppies which have been tied to veterans since WWI.2 Since then, the red poppy has become a symbol of remembrance for veterans. I hope that when people visit the Gann Museum, they will take the time to look for their relatives’ names. I hope that they tell their kids about those relatives and help us keep their stories alive.
Citations:
1 Drew Philip Halevy, “World War II,” CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/world-war-ii-2402/, Date Accessed 5/28/2025.
2 American Meadows, “The Red Poppy,” https://www.americanmeadows.com/content/wildflower-gardening/the-red-poppy?srsltid=AfmBOoqNzR6KGMnNhhQFmkkB3a_8gurf3OGAcax1axI7iOTA27IWfF8_, Date Accessed 5/28/2025.