The Highground
Near the center of Wisconsin there is a place of serenity and peacefulness, a place to mourn and to come to grips with your grieving. It is called The Highground.
The Highground is a Veterans Memorial Park near Neillsville, Wisconsin. One of the first things you will learn there is that The Highground is a Veterans Memorial, not a war memorial. It has become a tribute to all veterans, but it is not a place where you will see canons or tanks or war memorabilia.
The Highground began in 1968, when Tom Miller held his dying friend on a battlefield in Vietnam, and made a vow that his death would not be forgotten. It wasn't until 1983 that he met with other Vietnam veterans to discuss how they might create a memorial for their fallen comrades.
In 1984 the selection of the location near Neillsville was made. From the beginning the Vietnam veterans recognized this location as being a highground. In war it is important to hold the highground and soon they were calling the Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, simply The Highground.
When you visit the location you see how appropriate the name is. You walk slowly past several memorials to the end of the plaza and gaze out over Earthen Dove Effigy Mound and beyond to hundreds of acres of woodlands and the hills lying beyond them, you realize you truly are on a highground. It was here that I felt a peacefulness, a sense of healing. If I, who had not lost anyone in war, could feel that sense of peace and healing, I am sure many of the veterans who visit will feel even more.
Many people have found their way to The Highground seeking that very peace and healing and have found it. The Earthen Dove Effigy Mound was one of the first memorials created here. It was dedicated in 1989. The Dove is a "living memorial" that pays tribute to the MIAs and POWs (Missing in Action and Prisoner of War). There is earth from all 72 Wisconsin counties, as well as from many other locations throughout the United States and the world, used in the Effigy Mound. Some visitors find their way to the Dove to meditate and gain a sense of peace.
By 1990 the Gold Star Tribute was dedicated. It pays tribute to the families who have lost a loved one during any of our nation's conflicts. It is based on the Gold Star Mothers organization which became well known during WWI and again in WWII. A home with someone in service would display a blue star in the window. A gold star was displayed when a loved one had been killed while serving their country.
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