Alaska VII

Alaska, the last frontier, and a place of infinite beauty is always on my list of places to go. Due to the kindness of my long time friend, John Spitzberg, I was able to take my Son, Sean, to this glorious place.

I have visited Alaska a couple of times in the summer but never in the cold. The Iditerod dog race was approaching in March and my son's 50th birthday in May. so with Johns help and hospitality we decided to make the trip.

John arranged for us to actually work the Iditerod as "Trail Guards." This was an amazing adventure and I, and I am sure Sean, will never forget the four foot snow, the hundreds and hundreds of dogs, and the many mushers who greeted us along their way.

In my last post from Alaska, I shared some pics from the totally renovated and expanded memorial on Park Strip in Anchorage.

Today, I will share a few more from the same site.

This panel is called the South Panel and is one of two on this new site.

I took the following from the sites information page. The pictures are mine.

"South Panel entitled “O’er Land and Sea a Beacon Bright“ shows an abstracted ocean vista constructed of granite slabs with linear cliff forms on the mesh. In the center, the beckoning Big Dipper stars, the Honor Guard Bugler and the Presentation Flag provide realistic touchstones to this monumental artwork. The symbolic elements in the sculpture include:

Folded Presentation Flag for the Fallen Warrior

Bugler plays the 24 notes of TAPS

Eight stars of Gold for the Big Dipper in the Alaska Flag and the Gold Stars Moms

North Star is the guiding light that brings the fallen back home

Mesh is the strong fabric of the military in our state and country and is a place to leave reminders for family and comrades.

The Alaska State flag flies over this sculptural panel."

This lone Field Cross stands a silent sentry.

Sometime in the future I will share the other panel and the other memorials I revisited and one I saw for the first time.

Next time, on the 8th, we will take a trip back to Arizona, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Alaska, or any other state, please click the state name on the left side of this page.