War Memorial Park in Carbondale, Illinois

Carbondale, Illinois is a city of about 25,000 people. It is the home of Southern Illinois University, which has a student population of about 22,000.

Carbondale is located in Southern Illinois about 80 miles southeast of St. Louis, Missouri. The downtown area has undergone a revitalization led by a Main Street program. Part of the program established a Veterans Memorial Plaza in the town square. In 1998, the Carbondale VFW Post built a memorial in the Plaza commemorating local war dead from 20th Century wars.

In 2003, the Post undertook building a lighted wall identifying the Veterans Memorial Plaza. Behind the wall was a concrete platform with five plaques describing the wars of the 20th Century (WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq) and US losses.

A sixth plaque is for all-wars and recognizes those who made major contributions to building the memorial.