Veteran U.S. Marine Maj. Jim Geiser is trying to raise funds for a Scottsdale Memorial for the Fallen. (Dennis Murphy/ Contributing Photographer)
Veteran Maj. Jim Geiser wants to make a statement
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By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski .S. Marine Maj. Jim Geiser calls the Scottsdale Memorial for the Fallen a labor of love. He is taking the steps toward creating the memorial by combining his love of genealogy, his respect for his former occupation, and the honor of fallen military members. Once $310,000 is raised, a seven-sided granite stone will list 66 Scottsdale residents who died while on active duty. The emblems of the five branches of service and the city of
Scottsdale logo will adorn it. “We try to set something as an example for moms and dads and aunts and uncles to take their kids and show them these are the individuals who gave their lives so we could have the freedoms we have today. We don’t want that to get lost,” Geiser says. “It’s just something we think needs to be done. It would be my hope that every other city in the state of Arizona would have a monument like this for their fallen, a by-name monument.” Set to be placed on the northeast side of Scottsdale City Hall, the memorial is nearly a decade in the making. In 2014, a group of Scottsdale citizens led by Geiser formed the City of Scottsdale Memorial Action Committee with the hopes of establishing the memorial, but the fundraising process took longer than the committee expected. “We started this process … it’ll be eight
years coming up now, I think, in April or May, and all along we started trying to raise funds,” Geiser says. “We thought when raising funds that the city of Scottsdale residents would run forward with handfuls of money to help us. We missed that by about 100%, and we started pursuing other avenues of fundraising.” While total costs are hard to predict, Geiser says the group has already raised about $231,000 toward its $310,000 goal. Geiser says many, including the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community, have come forward with donations. The research behind the memorial took some time. Geiser painstakingly identified the fallen military with ties to Scottsdale. “We want it to be accurate,” he says. “I don’t want to miss anybody. For example, we went through two world wars before Scottsdale had any boundaries. We had
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