"  WHY I WANT TO BUILD HEROES' MONUMENT "

     My name is Tommy Tabor, of Thibodaux, LA. I am spear heading a group of Veterans, firefighters, and law enforcement officers to help build Heroes' Monument.  

     I want people to go to Heroes' Monument, and know they are safe, and can pay their respect to a decease loved one in comfort.   

    I began, my drive in 1991, when the Veteran Memorial Monument was blown over, by a rain storm, one night. The monument laid in the grass in Heroes' Park. I would go there and cut the grass around the fallen marble plates myself .The park maintenance dept. would cut around the area with a tractor, but no one would trim around the fallen plates.The people who collected money for, and built the monument,  in my mind , turned their backs on this monument. I begged the park administrator to pick up the marble plates and rebuild the monument. I went to the Lafourche Parish Council Meeting to do away with the destroyed monument and build a new one. At that time, I got no, help from the the parish or the recreation park administrator, with this monument. I set out to build a new monument for these reasons;

   Veteran Memorial Monument was built for K.I.A.( Killed In Action ) soldiers only. The soldier had to be killed on the battle field and had to be a resident of Lafourche Parish when he left for the service. There are no names of Veterans ( Person receiving a discharge other than Dishonorable, from the military service, living or deceased ) , P.O.W. ( Prisoner of War ), M.I.A. ( Missing in Action ), or Missing and Presumed Dead, on that monument.

    The monument I want to build, would honor any and all persons who entered the service, but did not receive a Dishonorable Discharge  from the military.

    I have been working on this goal for 16 years. I tried building it as a member and Post Commander of V.F.W. Post 5097. I was rejected by a small group of veterans who controlled the post. For reasons, beyond my control, they thought, I would use the post funds, to build the monument. I wanted help, from veterans through the V.F.W. A small donation, voted on by the membership, would have been nice.

    I started V.V.n.W La. Post #4, to try another route, with different veterans. Things were going good until a click formed and got in good with the national office. The click wanted Heroes' Monument to belong to the V.V.n.W. Organization. I refused doing that, because I wanted this monument to be run and maintained by local veterans. I did not want any politics involved in this monument, except for support by donations.

    I started Concerned Veterans of Louisiana Inc.  , to keep this monument under local control. I went to the I.R.S. and in Sept. 2002, to get Concerned Veterans of Louisiana Inc. , Classified as a 501 C-3, Nonprofit, Charitable, Corporation. By doing this, any and all donations could be Tax Deductible . We are legal in all aspects of the word.

     Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me on the Officers page   . I will be proud to answer any questions. I would also like to,"  thank you "  for participating in this project.

      I think the cost of the monument, is what makes people leery, about helping me build this monument. I now went to the Lafourche Parish Council, and asked them for help again. This council agreed, to help and form Heroes' Monument Commission, so we would be a board of the council. Now that we are a board of the council, we can ask the tax payers of the parish to vote a millage so we can purchase the property for the monument.

     I know, with a combination of the millage, grants and donations from individual, and corporation, we will have enough to purchase this property. We will seek the millage only, and only if we can not get the grants and donations to purchase the property. The property is needed so we can sell tiles to veterans and supporter, in order to build the monument. I lost two good friends because of early death.

      1.Wayne Daigle was a Law enforcement Officer who died at a young age. 

     2. Micheal Oncale was a Volunteer Fire Chief who died at a young age.

    After these two friends died, I decided to add two monuments to the Military Monument, and the three ( 3 ) monuments would be considered as one.This monument had nothing to do with 9/11. This monument would be called Heroes' Monument. I have surrounded myself with veterans, firefighters, and law enforcement officers, that want the same goal for Heroes Monument, as I do.We have a board of 9 members. 

    1. Five members are Veterans.

    2. Two members are Fire Fighters.

    3. Two members are Law Enforcement Officers.

            Our members names are on the Heroes' Monument Commission Page of this web-site, should you want to contact them, for information on this project.

   We are applying for grants through our C-3, but we also need people to purchase tiles or donate to a worthy cause.

   We are, a 501 C-3, and our books are open to anyone with serious intentions to exam the books. I never had anything to hide, and now,  we have nothing to hide.         

    V.V.n.W. Board Members said the post was not moving forward. I am here to tell them, I have moved forward and I plan to complete what I started. Here, I talk the talk, but with your help, I can, walk the walk.

     Thank you for the time, you took out of your busy day, to check out our site.

 "  I will  "

  "   Below, are two good poems I thought you would enjoy.  Authors unknown ".