With good reason, there are memorials all over North Texas to honor those who have died while serving our country through the military, and those in law enforcement who have died serving our communities.
But a group in Rowlett sees a glaring need to remember those who have died by completion of suicide. They're planning to build a beautiful park on the shores of Lake Ray Hubbard to do just that.
"There's nothing like it in the country," says Brian "Twelve" Wilburn, president of the Third Watch LE Motorcycle Club. "Its impact will be huge."
It all started with the #WalkTheBridge movement. Wilburn, along with John Salerno and Greg Campbell of Third Watch, started walking a symbolic 22 miles on the Highway 66 bridge over Lake Ray Hubbard on the 22nd of every month back in 2018. The gesture mirrored the 22 veteran deaths by suicide every day.
"We decided we wanted to do something about it, to affect change, to smash that stigma," says Wilburn.
Their efforts did not go unnoticed. It's opened the conversation about depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Injury after service in the military or law enforcement. And their monthly walks have saved lives.
"A number of those folks walk with us on the 22nd of every month, so we know their stories," says Wilburn. "We know where they were, and where they are now, and what they are doing to change lives."
Last year, the bridge was offically named the "Heroes Memorial Bridge," adding another layer of awareness to their efforts.
But the biggest impact yet is on the horizon: a proposed 22.5 acre park on the west side of Heroes Memorial Bridge.
The centerpiece will be a monument donated by the organization Blue H.E.L.P. to give families and friends of veterans and law enforcement who have died by suicide a place to come and reflect.
Currently monuments and tributes like these just don't exist.
It all stems from the question: "What is a 'Line of Duty Death?'"
"If someone dies because they did their duty...and they've seen all of these things that a human being is not meant to see: the death, the destruction, the abuse...unfortunately some folks succumb to that," Wilburn says.
The Heroes Bridge Memorial Park Foundation has been formed to raise funds to purchase land adjacent to an existing underdeveloped park, and construct a beautiful place to remember a largely unrecognized group of heroes.
"This is not, in any way, form, or fashion, a park that glorifies the manner of death," Wilburn says. "This is to honor service and sacrifice to one's community and country."
Wilburn says the project is ramping up, and they are taking donations.
The foundation plans to propose the approval of the park to the Rowlett City Council on July 20.
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