--The Grenada Memorial Story ©--
October 25, 1983 to Present Day.
In the early hours of October 25, 1983, combined US forces intervened militarily in Grenada to rescue more than 600 medical students.
The intervention, which  had the support of other Caribbean countries, was triggered by the seizure of power by a faction of the Marxist government, led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard and Gen. Hudson Austin.
Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and other cabinet ministers had been executed on October 19, 1983.
Besides U.S. concern about another Soviet Linked foothold off it's shores, the stated reason for the intervention was the threat of the student's being held hostage.

By the end of October 26, the Cuban garrison had surrendered; the Governor General of Grenada;
Sir Paul Scoon, had been rescued; and the People's Revolutionary Army logistics base had fallen. About 230 students, faculty, and families , barricaded for 36 hours in the dormitories on the Grand Anse campus, had been daringly evacuated by Marine Corps helicopters.

The military action cost the lives of 19 United States Servicemen.  The memorial stands in tribute to their heroism and valor. The use of signatures is unique. The design of the sculpture is rooted in Celtic mythology. The Celts according to Julius Caesar loved poetry first and battle second. Accompanied by a poet during battle, the Celts would cease fighting at a time chosen by the poet to recite and at the end of the recitation the battle would continue. The true warrior poets.

After each battle, they would return to their settlement and enter into the sacred grove of trees whereupon a worship ritual would be conducted that included the stripping of a tree bark on to which the names of the battle dead were marked, thus giving life to their memory.

The Memorial was dedicated October 29,1984. On February 20,1986, President Ronald Reagan
visited the monument and placed a wreath in memory of the fallen U.S. Servicemen.
The Memorial was moved to the True Blue Campus of the Medical School and re-dedicated October 1999.