A Merrill Field WWII memorial crumbles with no one responsible

The ground is settling under the 11th Air Force Memorial at Merrill Field, cracking its concrete and leaving the pavers dipping and rising. Its lights have been dark for years. And nobody is responsible for fixing it.

The memorial, dedicated Oct. 6, 2001, carries black granite etched with the names of airmen killed, missing or captured in World War II's Aleutian campaign, along with veterans who had been held prisoner in Siberia. It has been deteriorating for years, largely because the volunteers who quietly kept it up have since moved away, transferred or died, and no agency or organization formally owns its upkeep.

That leaves a standoff, the Anchorage Military and Veterans Affairs Commission says. "Nobody's going to sit back and come in and start throwing money at it from the organizations" until there's a plan, said commission chair Diana Ro.

The math is unforgiving. A draft first phase of repairs runs about $100,000, covering damage across the roundabout, the ground lights, the supporting bricks and the wall, commission member Angela LaFlamme said. The only money in sight is $17,000 — and it was meant for something else. The Alaska National Guard Officers Association holds a state grant originally intended for a memorial honoring the Alaska Territorial Guard, a project that fell apart. "Our additional funding source fell through," Laurel Foster of the association told the commission. Its board votes in October on whether to redirect the money here.

Even that wouldn't go far. Fixing the lighting alone was quoted at around $16,000, after new electrical conduit turned out not to match the original system, David Foley told the commission last year. So the commission's chair says safety comes first: leveling the pavers and adding skirting around the exposed base. The lights would wait.

There is some reassurance in the engineering. The monument itself, engineers have said, is not going anywhere. Merrill Field staff have handled what they can — flying flags, clearing barriers, repaving.

Commissioners have been looking for help beyond the city, so far without luck. "I have not heard back from Colonel Mabbitt's office," April Kyle said of their outreach to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. In July, the commission moved one of its meetings out to the memorial itself so members and the public could see the condition firsthand.

Now it is asking the city to sort out ownership. The commission voted unanimously to ask Mayor Suzanne LaFrance to bring the possible caretakers to one table — her office, Parks and Recreation, Merrill Field and the Air Force Association — to settle who pays and who maintains it.

They would like it rededicated on its 25th anniversary. That is Oct. 6, three weeks away.