Colin Powell will be in Cedar Rapids on June 1 to dedicate a new Korean War memorial

CEDAR RAPIDS - Colin Powell, former secretary of state, national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will speak in Cedar Rapids on June 1 to help dedicate a new monument honoring the more than 700 Iowa natives who died in the Korean War.

The announcement of Powell's visit and the details of the new monument were revealed at last night's Veterans Memorial Commission meeting in the Veterans Memorial Building on May's Island.

The monument and Powell's visit are being paid for by the PMX Industries Inc., a Cedar Rapids subsidiary of a Korean company, Mike Jager, the city's Veterans Memorial director, explained to commission members.

Jager characterized the monument as a square with granite faces, about 6-and-a-half-feet high, which will display the names of all those in the military who were born in Iowa and died in the Korean War.

The monument will be placed in the Veterans Memorial Park outside the Veterans Memorial Stadium baseball stadium.

The plan for June 1 calls for Powell to speak in the morning at the monument's dedication. The event will be followed by a luncheon with Powell for about 240 people at the Cedar Rapids Country Club, Mayor Ron Corbett told the commission last night.

Jager suggested that the June 1 date for the event - the day after Memorial Day - would give Korean War veterans from across the state a chance to attend their own festivities on May 31 and then come to Cedar Rapids on June 1 to see the new monument and Powell.