By Skyler Magnoli
Nestled on the border of New Britain and Newington, and placed in the back of Central Connecticut State University, the Iwo Jima Memorial is forget by most students and residents in the area. However for Marianne Mihalo and Gary Roy, who run the property, it represents pride, sacrifice and honor.
Since the memorial’s unveiling in 1995, Mihalo has been involved in the fundraising and event planning at the park. When she met her future husband Roy 12 years ago, he too became as enamored with the memorial as Mihalo. Ever since then they have worked together to keep the park running to honor the veterans and the men who died in the battle of Iwo Jima.
“It is a really strong connection, ’cause when you think about what those guys did in WWII and especially this battle that was so brutal to lose 6,821 men in just 36 days is an incredible loss,” said Roy. “It’s such a patriotic place to be.”
The park is one of the only national memorials that is run solely on donations and volunteer work. There is no government aid to help Mihalo and Roy with the maintenance and care that goes into to keeping the property running. Currently it cost $20,000 a year to keep the memorial open.
Maintaining the memorial includes lawn and shrubbery care, snow removal, flag replacements, polishing the monument, hiring professional cleaning of the statue, and repairs. Every five to six year the monument has to be professionally cleaned, which roughly costs about $6,000.
To help raise funds for the memorial Mihalo and Roy host a multitude of events each year. Roy describes the work and preparation that goes in to the park as an endless process. The couple is always in need of volunteers from maintenance work, to historical research.
While both Mihalo and Roy have their careers, the care of the park is like their full time job. Some weeks the couple could work more than 40 hours on the memorial. According to Roy, when they are home they are always making phone calls, or posters for events. However taking care of the memorial is hardly a burden on the two. They take on the memorial to help honor those veterans who worked so hard to build it.
“This memorial to me is important not only because of the physical structure, but because of what it signifies,” said Mihalo.
Another part of the history of the park is that it is also one of the only memorials created by veterans. Not only that, but the veterans worked with the designer to create the statue to be as historically accurate as possible. The veterans wanted to recognize the 100 men from Connecticut who died in the battle. As well as to honor all the men who had fallen in the battle and educate other generations.
“You come here and you just feel that it was built with pride and you just remember the sacrifices that men went through in WWII,” said Roy.
Roy believes the main problem is that people don’t realize the memorial was built by survivors. The couple is dedicated to teaching students and residents more about the battle and history of the memorial. On many occasions they set up for veterans of WWII to come and speak with visitors, however with most of the survivors in their nineties this is getting more difficult to do. This to them signifies the true purpose behind the memorial.
“We continue on to try to give veterans peace in the fact that their sacrifices are not forgotten,” said Mihalo.