Repair of Korean War Memorial damaged by car will take months, Wichita official says
The entryway to the Kansas Korean War Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park in Wichita was heavily damaged when it was struck by a car Monday night, officials said Tuesday.
One person had minor injuries but refused to be taken to a hospital, according to a 911 emergency communications supervisor. Multiple people called about the accident around 9:33 p.m. in the 300 block of Veterans Parkway.
In an email, Wichita police spokesperson Trevor Macy said a 24-year-old man in Chevrolet Camaro was headed north on the parkway when he left the road and hit the entryway. He said police are still investigating what caused the accident.
Firefighters shored up the entryway with wood wedged between the structure’s roof and the ground. Cracks in the concrete columns and a missing chunk at the top of the columns could be seen Tuesday morning. The area has been blocked off.
Wichita Parks and Recreation Director Troy Houtman said it would probably take between four and six months to rebuild. A crane would need to be brought in to remove the top and the two concrete columns would need to be rebuilt, he said. On Tuesday morning, he said a structural engineer still needed to assess the damage and the city would file a claim through the driver’s insurance to pay for the damage.
“We are talking a big-ticket item here,” he said, “probably more than people expect especially with construction prices as they are right now.”
Houtman didn’t have an estimate on the price. He said they would work with the local company that built it to do the rebuild. He said they are also working with a veterans memorial group on the rebuild. He said he hoped insurance “does the right thing and takes care of the situation” so that no city dollars have to be spent.
“It was shocking and it’s really disappointing that it happened on such an important monument,” he said, adding the repaired monument will be better than before since the entryway had some wear and tear over the years.
A plaque on one of the columns says the groundbreaking was in July 1996 and the dedication was in June 2001.