Hundreds of American veterans and local civilians perished in the Great Hurricane on Labor Day, September 2, 1935, when Islamadora sustained winds of 200 miles per hour and a barometer reading of 26.35 inches for several hours, destroying most local buildings and the Florida East Coast Railway in what remains the most savage hurricane on record. Hundreds of World War I veterans camped in the Matecumbe area while working on the construction of U.S. Highway One for the Works Progress Administration were among those killed. In 1937, the cremated remains of approximately 300 people were placed within a tiled crypt. Funded by the Works Progress Administration and regional veterans’ associations, the memorial is composed of native keystone, and its frieze shows coconut palm trees bending before hurricane winds while waters from an angry sea lap at the bottoms of their trunks. Over the years, local veterans, hurricane survivors, and descendants of the victims have cared for it.