City News & Updates

Click or tap above to view a slideshow from the Veterans Day Dedication Ceremony on November 11, 2024.

Eight years of private fundraising and planning culminated with the unveiling and dedication of a new National Iwo Jima Memorial at Huntington’s Memorial Park.

On behalf of local non-profit Huntington Veterans Day 5k Inc., Retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief Christopher Shortridge opened the ceremony at 11 a.m. on Veterans Day.

Lt. Commander Scott McLaughlin was the morning’s featured speaker, giving a historical account of the well-known World War II battle to secure the Pacific island known as Iwo Jima.

Huntington Veterans Day 5K Inc. has been raising funds for the memorial since 2016 through donations and events such as the group’s annual Veterans Day 5K. The new memorial was installed near Waltonian Gardens at Memorial Park near the northern pond’s edge.