Arkansas side to honor veterans of World War I with Memorial Tree

The City of Texarkana, Ark., will sponsor a World War I Memorial Tree.

Mary Beck, a city planner for Texarkana, Ark., is interested in the project because of her grandfather's, father's and three sons' military service.

Her grandfather, Roy Lapreze, fought with the Army in France during World War I. Her dad, Don Lapreze, was a Seabee in the South Pacific with the Navy in World

War II. Her sons, Chris Beck, Robert Beck and John Beck have all served in the Army.

"It's close to my heart," Mary Beck said.

"I'm thankful for my sons every day and my grandfather and father," she said.

The tree will be located at 350 East Front St. The date the city will receive the tree and plant it has not been determined.

The Arkansas World War I Centennial Commemoration Committee and the Arkansas Forestry Commission have approved the city's application to sponsor the tree.

Beck organized the Texarkana, Ark., application for the tree.

Committee and commission are seeking to place a WWI Memorial Tree in each of the 75 Arkansas counties before the centennial observance of the "Great War" concludes at the end of 2018.

Through the program, the Arkansas Forestry Commission will donate a 2-year old willow oak to an organization in each county that will plant a tree in a public location and see that it is cared for, said Mark Christ, outreach director for the commemoration committee.

"The WWI Committee will provide soil from the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France to be included in the planting," said Christ.

Beck was impressed with the idea of the tree and the WWI Committee who will provide soil from the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France to plant the tree.

"There is something about soil. It's really everything we need to live. Life all starts with soil, plants, animals. It's all really the basis for our lives," Beck said.

The committee is urging partnerships of local governments, Scout troops, American Legion posts and public libraries to plant a WWI memorial tree in a public park, courthouse square or other appropriate locations during the centennial commemoration in 2017-18 with a goal of having at least one in each of the 75 counties in Arkansas. The memorial trees will be included on the committee's website at www.wwiarkansas.com/sites-memorials.

The trees are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, with one set aside for each county.

In the years following the end of WWI in 1918, memorial trees were planted all over the world to remember the millions who perished during the war. More than 71,000 Arkansans served in the war, and 2,183 died. At least one stand of WWI memorial trees still exists in Arkansas in a small grove of holly trees on the campus of

Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, said Christ.

Upcoming Events