A place of healing — New executive director of veterans memorial reflects on past, future

Come Valentine's Day, Rae Lynn Myrick Munoz will have been executive director of the not-for-profit Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville, Missouri, for precisely three months.

The one-time Marine Corps corporal and mother of three daughters spent four years on active duty out of high school and four more as a reservist.

"Instead of going to college, I went into the Marines, which gave the foundation of who I am," said Munoz, who was born in St. Louis and reared in Sikeston, Missouri, before graduating high school in Crystal River, Florida, in 2005.

"I look back at my career and where I was 10 years ago and it's astonishing to think God has paved my path for where I need to be today," said Munoz, who previously served in municipal government roles in Palm Desert, California, and Sikeston, and who started her own not-for-profit benefiting veterans in 2016.

"USMC Desert Veterans of the Coachella Valley, near Palm Springs, California, did an annual fundraiser — the Marine Corps Birthday Ball, to celebrate my love of the Marine Corps," Munoz recalled.

"I found the venue, did the invitations, and when I finally sat down to eat at the event, I thought, 'If I can get this many people together just to celebrate the Marines, I can do something with this knowledge'," she said.

About the memorial

Situated on land donated by Jim and Charlene Eddleman, privately funded Missouri's National Veterans Memorial opened in May 2019.

The memorial features a full-size outdoor replica of Washington, D.C.'s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

An interactive exhibit allows visitors to find Americans who served in the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.

The memorial has a welcome center and museum covering 9,054-square-feet in all.

"I had been to the memorial just once before accepting the position. I could feel the presence of this place and knew what they were doing here — and what they had already done — and it was astonishing," remarked Munoz, 35.

"I could talk all day long about the healing this place does and how I've witnessed it with my own eyes in my short time here," she added, noting she takes special delight in the camaraderie of the once-a-month veterans' breakfast held on the memorial's campus.

The military uniform of Jim Eddleman is seen displayed inside Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville. Eddleman and his wife, Charlene, donated 47 acres of their farm to create the memorial.Jeff Long

The military uniform of Jim Eddleman is seen displayed inside Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville. Eddleman and his wife, Charlene, donated 47 acres of their farm to create the memorial.Jeff Long

Originating gift

The Eddleman family donated 47 of the 48 acres of the family farm, plus money enabling the creation of the memorial.

Jim and Charlene Eddleman continue to live on the remaining single acre still in their possession not far from the wall replica.

Jim Eddleman, inducted into the state's Veterans Hall of Fame in 2021, began his U.S. Army service in 1966 and fought in the 1968 Tet Offensive.

While transporting severely wounded soldiers to medevac helicopters, Eddleman made a promise to himself to find a way to honor his comrades.

The memorial is the realization of that long-ago commitment.

Funding

Munoz said the memorial, which has a 12-member Board of Directors, continues to rely on private donations and from the support of monthly givers who provided memorial staff their contact information after visiting the welcome center.

"People may purchase a bench, we have naming opportunities and we have future plans that large donors can be a part of, too. We also accept in-kind donations," Munoz said.

Reflection

"We tend to forget people of my generation were welcomed home after military service but Vietnam veterans were not. This place gives those vets healing. They bring their nephews, cousins, neighbors and friends here," Munoz said.

"Sometimes visitors will say, 'I want to put a brick out in our Knee Wall to honor my dad,' and we do have memorial bricks available for purchase," she added.

The memorial's board recently approved creation of a cemetery on campus with care being taken to follow precisely protocols established by Arlington National Cemetery, Munoz explained.

Coming up

Missouri's National Veterans Memorial will hold its second annual Love Our Veterans (L.O.V.) event to benefit the memorial Saturday, March 4, at St. Louis' Hilton Frontenac Hotel.

Vietnam veteran and former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier is scheduled to offer remarks at the event.

A table for 10 costs $5,000.

Those who cannot attend but who wish to make a donation may contact the memorial at (573) 547-2035. Office hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays to Fridays.

More information may be found on the memorial's website, www.mnvmfund.org.

The memorial, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, is at 1172 Veterans Memorial Parkway in Perryville.

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