U.S. 250th Combat Veterans Memorial

The 250 cannonballs towed by Jim "The Shark" Dreyer in his 2026 historic swim to commemorate America’s 250th birthday may be purchased in honor of Combat Veterans for mounting with an accompanying plaque on the U.S. 250th Combat Veterans Memorial. This tribute will forever honor loved ones (living or deceased) who sacrificed to serve our country in combat on this most unique memorial. Plaques will be numbered so they can easily be located when visiting the memorial in Whitehall, Michigan.​ Commemorators may write a tribute for their honorees and submit it along with photos and videos to be viewed by memorial visitors when scanning a QR code. Commemorators will receive a photo of their cannonball and plaque (after they are mounted on the memorial) that also contains a QR code, so they may access their honoree's online tribute from their homes. Please apply for an honorary cannonball below and submit the necessary paperwork to eventmarketing@comcast.net. There is no application fee. Please submit a separate application for each Combat Veteran to be honored. After your application is approved, we will send you a secure online link for making a $750 tax-deductible donation to have your honorary cannonball and plaque mounted on the memorial. Donations may also be mailed to save on processing fees. Electronic receipts will be provided. Donations will go to a Whitehall Veterans organization (TBD) for construction of the memorial, and any fundraising surplus will be distributed between all participating White Lake Area Veterans organizations. Thank you for honoring those who fought to win and preserve our freedom for 250 years! * Please note that this online platform is used the majority of the time for race registrations and thereby asks for your date of birth and gender by default. On occasion, this platform refers to our tribute as a "race." The "Race Date" of June 15, 2027 refers to the completion of the memorial, but the date is purely speculative.