"You have to know the history before you can heal."
Texas veteran memorial takes in Confederate statue once in San Antonio park
Texas veteran memorial takes in Confederate statue once in San Antonio park
It was a warm Thursday night in August 2017 when crews rolled into San Antonio’s Travis Park to remove the Confederate Soldier statue that had stood there since 1899. Earlier that day, the San Antonio City Council voted 10-1 in favor of its removal, and by the early hours of Friday morning, it was taken from its pedestal and put into storage, where it would stay for the next eight years.
However, the ordinance that authorized the removal also allowed for the statue’s eventual donation to a nonprofit that could communicate its historical significance “in an instructive and not divisive way,” a memo from Center City Development and Operations states. The SS American Memorial Foundation, a Seguin nonprofit founded and headed by Navy veteran Craig Russell, is the new owner, after a donation deal with the City of San Antonio went through in August 2025. It was two years in the making, and the nonprofit (the SS in its name standing for “ship submersible,” Russell said) will receive the statue in October.
The nonprofit is located on the Lazy U Ranch Settlement, where Russell and the board of directors run what they call a “living war memorial.” Russell told MySA that since 2000, the property has welcomed tens of thousands of wounded veterans through its gates, providing free respite, annual nature retreats, spiritual guidance and time outdoors along the Guadalupe River. It’s also home to the SS American Memorial building, where the…