Disabled C.F. vet's gold star tribute nearly done

Posted by Pat Kinney on Monday, October 5, 2026

Taylor Morris stands in front of the “Gold Star Families Memorial” now under construction at Veterans Park in Cedar Falls (Pat Kinney photo)


CEDAR FALLS — A U.S. Navy veteran who lost parts of all four limbs in a 2012 bomb blast in Afghanistans says his tribute to families of fallen troops is nearing completion, thanks to a lot of help.

“We’re hoping to have it done by Veterans Day,” said Taylor Morris, who’s working with a cadre of volunteers on the Gold Star Families Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park on Waterloo Road in Cedar Falls. 

It honors families who have lost loved ones in military service.

“The pavers are done, the granite base is set, the benches are in, the vertical pieces are in” and being engraved, Morris said. A retaining wall is completed. Next steps re installing vertical pieces, once engraved, and benches.

“Should be done by Veterans Day,” he said. “We’ll try to have a little gathering out here.” 

Work has proceeded in phases over the summer, Morris said, as materials for the project came in.

Also working on the project are U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran Mike Butler of the Cedar Falls Veterans of Foreign Wars post and longtime Cedar Falls construction contractor Wayne Magee. His namesake firm is project manager, working with several local firms.

“Working with this team and on this project has been a very positive and rewarding experience,” Morris said.

Fundraising continues while construction is in progress, with presentations to various veterans groups and service organizations.


A closer view of project detail of the granite "Gold Star Famililes Memoria" under construction at Veterans Memorial Park in Cedar Falls. (Taylor Morris photos)
 

“We’re working on it still. We’re at about $70,000 cash almost raised and another $70,000 in in-kind donations,” Morris said. The fundraising goal is $290,000, up from about $250,000 originally projected.

“We had some upgrades,” he said. “We had to put a retaining wall in, and the pavers, we upgraded those” from concrete to granite for a higher quality finish and appearance.

“There’s a premium going with all-U.S. stuff, but it was worth it.” Morris added.

The memorial consists in part of a 7-foot tall silhouette of a saluting service member, set in black granite, with a three-foot gold limestone star situated behind it. It’s positioned so that when the sun rises to a certain part of the sky on or around Memorial Day, the sunlight will be focused through the silhouette and illuminate the gold star. More details on the project can be found at a project website, linked here.

An artist redering of the completed panels of the memorial (Courtesy illustration)


“The monument will have a specific solar alignment so that every year the Memorial Day sunrise will create a ‘golden salute,’ saluting the Golden Star within the Memorial,” according to a project description. The silhouette shadow will be positioned directly between the memorial and the gold star, like a sundial.

“The Golden Star will be flanked by six granite Armed Service Tribute benches, with three on each side defining the perimeter,” the project description says. The memorial “will be fully accessible with ample room for groups and individuals to easily navigate around the monument while admiring its beauty and paying their respects.”

Morris has said even the memorial’s measurements have patriotic significance.

“The soldier silhouette itself is 7 feet tall,” with three panels. “So that represents your seven-man firing team, with three volleys, That represents a 21-gun salute” by an honor guard, he explained.

The memorial dimensions also symbolize the date of the commissioning of the Continental Army, the first branch of armed orces, on June 14, 1775 during the American Revolution. The two shortest heights on the outside are 3 foot, 6 inches; the middle height is 7 foot 6 inches. “When you add those together you get 14 feet, 6 inches — the 14th day, the sixth month,” Morris has said. “The width of the base in 17.75 feet. It gives the reasoning behind the size, the shape and the form.”

Taylor Morris, an explosive ordnance disposal expert, was injured May 3, 2012 in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan as he was trying to clear an area of improvised explosive devices for a unit of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers. He began a rigorous rehabilitation and was fitted with prosthetics as Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington D.C. His wife and then-fiancée Danielle, then Danielle Kelly, supported him and served as his primary caregiver. 

He received the Bronze Star as well as the Purple Heart for his service. He and Danielle, a Cedar Falls real estate agent, have three daughters.

Artist Ray “Bubba” Sorenson II included Taylor Morris’s likeness on one side of the Black Hawk County Freedom Rock at Veterans Park in Cedar Falls The rocks also includes Waterloo’s five Sullivan brothers killed in World War II and posthumous Vietnam-era Medal of Honor recipient Robert Hibbs of Cedar Falls. (Pat Kinney photo)
 

Taylor Morris’s late grandfather, Vilas “Sid” Morris a longtime Waterloo educator and Cedar Falls City Council member, was responsible for many improvements to Veterans Park over 30 years and headed up a chapter of Iowa Korean War veterans. He was a U.S. Army artilleryman during that war.

“This has been a deeply meaningful project on a couple of different levels,” Taylor Morris said. “First, the memorial itself is a beautiful piece of art and a true tribute to families of the fallen.

“Second, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to contribute a piece to the Veterans Park, a place my grandpa put so much time and effort into,” he said.

Donations to the Gold Star Families Memorial project in Cedar Falls may be made online at the link here. Donations also may be made by check. Checks may be made out to “Veterans Memorial Fund” and mailed to the Cedar Falls Community Foundation, P.O. Box 546, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Questions may be directed to project contact Mike Butler at (319) 239-6214 or Mike.Butler052@gmail.com


Korean War veteran Vilas “Sid: Morris embraces his grandson, Taylor Morris after he returned from being wounded in Afghanistan at the Waterloo Regional Airport in 2012. (Tim Dodd photo)