Heroes Memorial in front of Selma City Hall honors veterans, first responders

In September, ground broke in Selma on a new addition to City Hall to memorialize first responders and veterans. After approximately nine months of construction, the Heroes Memorial has opened for the public to view while visiting City Hall.

To celebrate the dedication of the Heroes Memorial, Selma will host a ceremony on Veterans Day in partnership with The Chamber (Schertz-Cibolo-Selma area) and the cities of Schertz and Cibolo.

While the project was originally planned to be complete by the end of 2022, supply chain issues and delays pushed the project completion date into this year, City Manager Johnny Casias said.

The cost of the project was an estimated $800,000, which was funded through the capital construction fund from the issuance of certificates of obligation bonds in 2019.

Casias said this has been a passion project in the city as committees and City Council have worked on a recreational way to honor veterans and first responders.

“We have had committees that talked about doing park and quality-of-life improvements, making suggestions to City Council over the years, and one of them was a veterans memorial plaza,” Casias said.

The memorial consists of a plaza that includes benches and a wall that says, “Dedicated to the courage, service and sacrifice of the past and present-day heroes,” alongside rows of insignias representing different military groups and first responders leading from the entrance of City Hall to the parking lot.

“It is something that the mayor and council are extremely proud of,” Casias said. “For us to be able to do a project like this and support our heroes, it is really just something that not everyone gets to do in their lifetime, and we are fortunate and blessed to have it complete and to have it last for generations to come.”