SAN ANTONIO – After being suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fundraising has resumed for “Tip of the Spear,” a 13-foot memorial topped by a starkly dramatic bronze statue of three wounded soldiers representing combat veterans of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Tony Roman, the Texas chief of staff for the Military Order of the Purple Heart and a driving force behind the memorial, said they are shown holding on to each other because “no matter the war, we are a band of brothers.”
He said the memorial “will honor combat-wounded veterans and is dedicated to all veterans.”
Roman said it’s been estimated seven veterans support one combat veteran, including those in administrative roles, in transportation, logistics, as well as cooks, medics and many others.
The past commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart chapter 1836 in San Antonio, Roman said the Bexar County Commissioners Court donated land for the memorial outside the Bexar County Public Works building on Probandt, located on the banks of the San Antonio River and across from Mission Concepcion on the South Side.
He said the Tip of the Spear Memorial will cost an estimated $460,000, of which about $110,000 has been contributed so far.
Roman said once the money is raised, Deep in the Heart Foundry in Bastrop will begin work on the statue. Deep in the Heart has created a wide range of noted and familiar bronze sculptures.
The statue itself is the work of the late renowned sculptor Michael Boyett, a Vietnam War veteran and Purple Heart recipient.
“When he came back from Vietnam, it was in his heart to somehow show tribute to these men,” said Carol Boyett, his widow.
“This particular monument just shows a unity, a strength, a determination that these soldiers had.”
A video about the “Tip of the Spear” sculpture itself and information about the ongoing fundraising efforts, can be found here.