Latest news with #BootsontheGroundforHeroesMemorial
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Over 7,000 combat boots brave elements at Fort Adams to honor fallen U.S. service members
Over 7,000 combat boots, each honoring a fallen U.S. service member, are on display over Memorial Day weekend at Fort Adams State Park in Newport. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current) A late spring nor'easter dumped 2 inches of rain on Newport Thursday. Not exactly the best weather for an outdoor display of over 7,000 combat boots. 'They've been out there for nine years, and they're beginning to show their wear and tear and weather like this does not help,' Erik Wallin, executive director of Operation Stand Down Rhode Island, said Thursday afternoon as rain and heavy winds swept through the state. But then combat boots are designed for rough terrain, extreme weather, and heavy-duty use. And the boots on display in the Boots on the Ground for Heroes Memorial are holding up thanks to the TLC from Operation Stand Down staff and hundreds of volunteers. The memorial opened Friday morning under cloudy skies at Fort Adams State Park in Newport. Each boot in the memorial organized by Operation Stand Down has a U.S. flag and a tag with the name and photo of a fallen service member killed in action since 9/11 in the Global War on Terror. The memorial remains open to the public for viewing 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Sunday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday. Admission is free. The boots are organized alphabetically and by state and U.S. territories. Visitors often leave coins on the boots, some are symbolic of a personal connection to the soldier, sailor, Marine or Coast Guard personnel who died. A quarter could mean you were with the service member when they died; a dime that you served with the deceased; a nickel that you were at basic training together; and a penny that you visited and paid your respects and thanked the veteran for their service. With the exception of the possibility of a passing late afternoon shower Friday and a lesser chance on Saturday, Wallin is thankful the National Weather Service forecasts calls for a dry Sunday and Memorial Day. The memorial has been installed each year at Fort Adams since 2019. One year, it rained throughout the holiday weekend and into the following days so the boots could not dry out. Wallin said the boots had to be hauled to the Rhode Island Army National Guard Armory in Warwick to dry out. The boots spend most of the year stored in a trailer. But this past Monday, Operation Stand Down staff drew the grid on the field inside Fort Adams. Over 200 volunteers helped place the boots and flags over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday. 'There was a little bit of mold on them,' Wallin said. Not anymore though. Among the volunteers who came to help set up the memorial this week, the East Providence High School football team helped clean boots. 'We're tremendously blessed, all of us at Operation Stand Down,' Wallin said. 'It's very moving to see a hundred volunteers show up on any one day, both as a tribute to those who have fallen and it's a tremendous recognition of people appreciating the sacrifice and service of our U.S. military. This year there are exactly 7,326 boots, the same number on display last year, Wallin said. More boots are added each year if additional U.S. service members are killed in action in war operations under the specific criteria of the Department of Defense. Each fallen hero is represented by a single boot except for the 29 Rhode Island service members killed who are each honored with a pair of boots. A separate circle with pairs of desert tan boots pays tribute to the fallen veterans from Rhode Island. The rest of the boots are black, acquired through military surplus a decade ago. Since then, the Defense Department has switched over to desert tan boots. 'Unfortunately these have been part of the memorial now for over nine years, and they do begin to show their age,' Wallin said. 'We're kind of at that vector point of having to make a decision about going out and investing in an entirely new set.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Volunteers secure annual Boots on the Ground display as storm moves in
NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) — Operation Stand Down Rhode Island had to move quickly to prepare its annual Boots on the Ground for Heroes Memorial at Fort Adams State Park Wednesday. OSDRI Executive Director Erik Wallin told 12 News Thursday's impending storm threw a wrench into their usual preparation timeline. 'This looks like a real doozy of a storm,' he said. 'We got as many volunteers as we could out.' WEATHER ALERT: Heavy rain, strong wind expected Thursday Wallin said more than 200 volunteers have worked tirelessly over the last couple of days to set up the memorial, which pays tribute to more than 7,000 servicemembers who made the ultimate sacrifice. The display is nearly complete, according to Wallin, with volunteers planning to put on the final touches before it opens to the public. The memorial consists of thousands of pairs of combat boots line up in a large grid. Each one is adorned with an American flag and the name of a servicemember killed in action during the post-9/11 Global War on Terror. Wallin explained that volunteers have been tying each of the boots down to the ground to prevent them from blowing over in the wind. 'We're here at Fort Adams, which is right on the coast,' Wallin said. 'A ton of wind comes in here from all different directions at every time of the day.' 'Hopefully this will weather the storm that's coming,' he continued, referring to the memorial. Wallin said not setting up the display simply wasn't an option. 'We've had situations where it has rained so much that, when we go to pick up these boots, we were dumping water out of them,' Wallin said. 'We had the National Guard at one point put them all in their armory to try and dry them out.' 'You just never know what weather you're going to get in New England on Memorial Day weekend,' he added. Wallin said volunteers will monitor the memorial throughout the storm Thursday to ensure that it stays in place. The display will be open to the public starting Friday at 9 a.m. It will be available for viewing from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday, and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Memorial Day itself. Download the and apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch or with the new . Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
