NEW ROADS - Veterans gathered Wednesday morning with red, white and blue shovels in hand to break ground on the new Pointe Coupee Veterans Memorial in New Roads.

The memorial will be constructed on False River Drive in front of Pointe Coupee General Hospital. It will feature six flags and stone monuments for each military branch along with a state flag, POW flag and an American flag. The site will also include 1,500 personalized bricks to honor veterans. The group has already sold more than 1,000 bricks.

"It's unbelievable because I do have some friends that passed away and their wives bought it and stuff like that, so it's going to mean a lot to every veteran," said veteran George Miller. "Whoever comes to the hospital, they got a loved one in there, they can walk out here. We'll have benches and they can reflect. It's going to be great."

There's still room for another 400 bricks to complete the memorial with the last day to order bricks coming up on Dec. 1. Those who want to donate but miss the December deadline will have to wait to get in on the next 100 brick order.

"You know when this started there was a lot of optimistic people, but as of today I can see the people are realizing that this is just something that's going to happen," said American Legion Post 248 member Camille LeJeune.

To learn more about the memorial and to print a brick order or donation form, click here. For more information about the memorial, visit lalegion.org.