Hands of Freedom Monument

13500 Johnson Drive
(Johnson Drive & Pflumm)
Veteran's Tribute Park

Veteran's Tribute Park at 13500 Johnson Drive (Johnson Drive and Pflumm Road) - is a landscaped park centered around the Hands of Freedom monument to military veterans who have served the United States of America.

The "Hands of Freedom" monument is the design of the architect, Maurice D. McMullen, for the Veteran's Tribute Park in Shawnee, Kansas. A national tribute to all military veterans of the United States of America, living or deceased who served during war or peace, is located in Veterans Park at Johnson Drive and Pflumm.

The tribute was designed to be constructed in the form of twin obelisks composed of vertical granite slabs of varying heights reaching upward to support an open bronze-banded globe. The symbolic meaning represents the the hands of our many veterans striving to hold the world aloft in Freedom. The slabs are twlve inches thick varying in height from eight to twenty feet. The globe is six feet in diameter. The tribute is set in what was to be a twenty-four foot diameter reflecting waterpool. A proposed "granite" wall was changed to stone which provides a background that partially surrounds the tribute.

The park setting allows the Tribute to be approached by walkways from the East, West and South, each with a meditation station representing each major war or conflict. Stone benches have been mounted along these walkways for rest and reflection. The walkways have been designated as "commemorative walks" and join a major walkway directly in font of the tribute designated as "Freedom Walk". The park land was donated by the City of Shawnee in August of 1988, with completion of the project and a formal dedication in November, 1992.