This is a bit of an unusual location and blog post for me, as most of my adventures are at National Parks, hiking trips, or various other adventures. Sometimes it is equally important to look at other places that you may not have considered.
A while back in November a friend from Twitter and I had some discussions regarding the Navajo Indian Code Talkers of World War II. Additional research led to me to find a number of really unique and interesting items that I was not aware of such as the that a number of different tribes have performed code talker duties, as well as that code talkers had been used in several previous conflicts leading up to World War II. At that time I also learned that there was a code talkers memorial located in Ocala, Florida. Being that this was only a few hours from my home, I immediately made plans to visit.
Covid-19 put a stop to that (and my Grand Canyon trip among all other 2020 plans so far!), but in May I finally made it out to see the code talkers memorial. The plaque on display at the memorial briefly told the story of the Navajo Indian Code Talkers, and does a good job of reminding visitors of the oh so important job of the Code Talkers to use a language that the Japanese could not break, therefor aiding in the efforts that eventually led to the U.S. victory over the Japanese in WW2.
The Code Talkers memorial is located in Marion County Veterans Memorial Park. I knew this visit would be a bit more somber than photographing alligators or beautiful scenery. I was not prepared for the completely amazing memorial that was there. Not only did this memorial commemorate the Code Talkers, but also the men and women from the local region who served in any of the conflicts the Unites States has been involved with. There are commemorative plaques for major battles from World War 2, a special plaque dedicated to the Challenger astronauts, and 9/11 just to name a few. The grounds and memorials are well kept and maintained, the green spaces are lush, and hopefully would make any veteran proud.
Seeing the individual names on bricks, some of which were decorated, and the vast number of individual names brought the reality of war quickly to mind. At the time of my visit, someone came to the park and played the bagpipes. I found that my overall experience at this memorial was very moving, a lot more so than I originally thought.
If you would like to visit the Marion County Veterans Memorial Park, it is located at 2601 E Fort King St., Ocala, FL, 34470. The park is open daily from 7am to 7pm. At the time of writing, there is no entry fee.