Doris Miller Memorial Park

Photo by Ke'Sha Lopez) Crews were working at the site Wednesday to install each of the 9,000 bolts that will hold together the massive sculpture of more than 1,500 pieces. Miller, who was born on Oct. 12, 1919, in Waco, the son of sharecroppers, was a U.S. Navy mess mate when he manned a gun on the USS West Virginia during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, downing as many as five enemy planes, according to some reports, although Miller himself later told officials he thought he hit just one. Miller was awarded the Navy Cross for his gallantry, the first African American to receive the medal, although some supporters have continued to work to try to convince the Navy to award Miller the Congressional Medal of Honor. Miller died on Nov. 24, 1943 during the battle of the Gilbert Islands, when his ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Pacific Ocean. Doreen Ravenscroft, with Cultural Arts of Waco is spearheading the project. She said the project has been several years in the making. In the beginning 28 designs came in from around the country. They were narrowed down to the top five but then a few hiccups happened along the way. "2016 was when we had our major bump in the road which was the change in the floodplain calculation, which moved everything back, which meant that our civil engineers basically had to redraw everything,” she said. Funds are still being raised for the $2.5 million project. Reliefs still need to be installed that will tell Miller’s story from his childhood to his year’s at A.J. Moore High School to his service in the Navy. The memorial is expected to draw tourists from across the country. ...

The annual event commemorates the life and legacy of the slain civil rights leader. The marchers made their way across the Waco Suspension Bridge from Indian Spring Park singing, “We Shall Overcome,” the gospel song that became an anthem of the civil rights movement and the same song that many sang as they attempted on March 7, 1965 to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., only to be violently met by state troopers and a sheriff’s posse in what became known as “Bloody Sunday.” Waco NAACP President, Dr. Peaches Henry made reference to that tragic moment in American history, saying how much each person's vote matters. She said for years people had forgotten how much their voices count. She said the election of McLennan County’s first African American female county commissioner was the result of voters showing up at the polls. The group later walked past the new Doris Miller Memorial to the Bledsoe-Miller community center for an MLK program, with African dancers, praise dancers, speech and essay contest, and Dr. King trivia. A candlelight vigil at 6 p.m. Monday at MLK, Jr. Park wraps up a weekend of commemorative events. The annual observance was started 33 years ago by former McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day has been a federal holiday since 1983. ...