Construction of the Archbald Borough Veterans Monument Park on Kennedy Drive will soon resume in earnest with completion of the project’s major elements targeted for later this year, retired Army Major Rob Turlip said.
Turlip, chairman of the monument park committee, updated Lackawanna County commissioners last month on the status of the roughly $1.5 million project in the works since 2016 to honor United States veterans past and present. Site work at the burgeoning park on 2 acres of land donated by military contractor Lockheed Martin began in late 2024, shortly after the project received the final permitting it needed for construction to commence.
An M60 Patton battle tank sits on the grounds of the Archbald Borough Veterans Monument Park in Archbald Friday, May 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
“Our park is about 50% complete,” Turlip told commissioners April 15. “It’s coming along very nicely. We’re going to start construction again here soon with the weather cooperating in our favor. Hopefully we’re going to have this park complete by September and have a nice ceremony.”
Work to this point has included the installation of a 12-foot-tall black granite obelisk topped with a bronze bald eagle and flanked by smaller black granite markers commemorating each branch of the U.S. armed forces. The marker commemorating the Air Force had to be reordered due to a blemish but has since been installed.
The monument and markers complement an M163 Vulcan Air Defense System, an M60 Patton tank and a large wooden pavilion erected at the park last year. The park will also feature prominent veterans walls adorned with granite tile plaques honoring hundreds of individual veterans, multiple bronze statues made through partnerships with Keystone College and later Marywood University, granite benches, a mural, additional pieces of decommissioned military equipment and other features.
Archbald Borough Veterans Monument Park in Archbald Friday, May 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Turlip told commissioners that granite veterans plaques remain available for $550, noting plans to ultimately install 420 in total. Individuals looking to honor specific veterans with a plaque can call Turlip at 570-877-2338.
He also said the committee recently started seeking funding for a statue honoring women veterans. Marywood professor of sculpture Stephen Colley, who sculpted and cast other statues for the park with his students at Keystone and later Marywood, will also complete the statue featuring a Vietnam-era nurse providing aid to a wounded soldier.
A miniature mock-up of a planned statue honoring female veterans that will be cast in bronze and displayed at the Archbald Borough Veterans Monument Park. (COURTESY OF ROB TURLIP)
Other Colley-cast statues that will be added to the park include a soldier kneeling with a K-9; the soldier’s battle cross, which is a rifle, combat boots and a helmet; and the “No Man Left Behind,” which depicts a soldier rescuing a pilot. The goal is for those pieces to be installed this year, Turlip said, noting the statue honoring women veterans will likely be installed sometime next year.
Plans to add a Black Hawk helicopter to the park fell through, but Turlip said the site will ultimately feature a Quad .50 — another anti-aircraft weapon which takes its name from its four .50-caliber machine guns — and hopefully one additional piece of military equipment.
The finished park will also include a parking lot, lighting, additional landscaping and other features.
“It’s a 10-year project,” Turlip said in a recent phone interview. “I’ll be happy when it’s finished. I think it’s going to be beautiful.”
Monday Update
Then: 2025 featured major progress at an Archbald veterans park planned since 2016.
Now: Park work will soon resume with completion targeted for later this year.