News : Iwo Jima silhouette to be at Veterans Park by Veterans Day

Soon this Iwo Jima silhouette, created at Ideal Industries, will be on display at Veterans Park.

Jim Williams, center discusses the Iwo Jima silhouette with Dave Bowens, left and Chad Cripe.

The plasma cutter emits a ring of sparks as it cuts the steel for the Iwo Jima silhouette.

The computer monitor shows how the steel will be cut; the paper at right shows the intended result.

The Iwo Jima memorial is expected to arrive at Veterans Park on Thursday.

One of the final steps in the creation of the Iwo Jima monument took place Monday evening at Ideal Industries, where the paint crew applied the black powder coating to the silhouette that honors the 1945 flag raising on Mount Suribachi during the battle for the island known as Iwo Jima.

The work began several weeks ago, when, after a couple days of programming the plasma cutter, workers pushed the buttons that started the process of cutting the shape from a 300-pound sheet of steel.

"Let's make a monument."

With those four words, Jim Williams and the plasma cutting team at Ideal Industries began carving a silhouette of the famous flag raising.

It took the Accu-Cut plasma cutter just about 10 minutes to carve the iconic image out of a 300-pound sheet of steel, but it took programmers a couple days to create the image in the machine's computer.

Ideal employees Chad Cripe and Dave Bowens helped Williams lift the silhouette from the cutting area.

Williams said the project should be finished in time for installation at Veterans Park by Veterans Day. At the park, it will join other silhouettes that stand in tribute to those who have served the U.S.

Williams said before the black powder coating is applied, the welders will add support brackets as well as a flag pole support. The Iwo Jima monument is a tribute to Marines who raised the flag atop Mount Suribachi as Americans fought to secure that island in February of 1945.

Ron and Carol Geiger, AMVETS and VFW are sponsoring this monument, as they have the other silhouettes at Veterans Park.

Geiger says Vinton-Shellsburg High School teacher Kelly Steffen and her students have raised funds for a 48-star flag which will go on top of the Iwo Jima silhouette; a reminder that that there were only 48 stars on the flag raised over Iwo Jima. Alaska and Hawaii became states years after the war ended.