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Marine memorial moves to new home at Grand Rapids Home for Veterans

The memorial recognizes the sacrifices of five Marines.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A memorial that honors five members of a Marine unit who were killed during a deployment to Iraq in 2006 and 2007 was moved to a new location Saturday. 

The memorial was located at the compound for the 1st Battalion, 24th Marines on Monroe Avenue, but it was rededicated at its new home at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans. 

The battalion are moving to a more a modern training facility in Battle Creek, and they started raising money in September to move the memorial. The men trained in Grand Rapids and money donated by the community was used to build the memorial. The Marines wanted it to stay in Grand Rapids for that reason. 

The memorial recognizes the sacrifices of Thomas Gilbert, Jonathan Thornsberry, Brett Witteveen, Jacob Neal, and Bufford Van Slyke. 

A GoFundMe was set up to help cover relocation costs. About $11,000 was collected for a $70,000 goal. 

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