| World War II Memorial | |
|---|---|
 The memorial in Washington D.C. | |
   | |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Coordinates | 38°53′22″N77°2′26″W / 38.88944°N 77.04056°W /38.88944; -77.04056 |
| Area | 7.4 acres (0.030 km2)[1] |
| Established | April 29, 2004 |
| Visitors | 4.6 million (in 2018) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | World War II Memorial |
TheWorld War II Memorial is anational memorial in the United States[2][3] dedicated toAmericans who served in thearmed forces and as civilians duringWorld War II. It is located on theNational Mall inWashington, D.C.
The memorial consists of 56 granite pillars, decorated with bronzelaurel wreaths, representingU.S. states andterritories, and a pair of smalltriumphal arches for the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, surrounding an oval plaza and fountain. On its short axis is a memorial wall ofgold stars representing the fallen within its own reflecting pool, and opposite, a sloped and stepped entrance plaza leading into the oval from 17th Street. Its initial design was submitted by Austrian-American architectFriedrich St. Florian.
Opened on April 29, 2004, it replaced theRainbow Pool at the eastern end of theReflecting Pool, between theLincoln Memorial and theWashington Monument. Dedicated byPresidentGeorge W. Bush on May 29, 2004,[4] the memorial is administered by theNational Park Service under itsNational Mall and Memorial Parks group.[5] More than 4.6 million people visited the memorial in 2018.[6]
The memorial consists of 56granitepillars, each 17 feet (5.2 m) tall, arranged in asemicircle around aplaza with two 43-foot (13 m)triumphal arches on opposite sides. Two-thirds of the 7.4-acre (3.0 ha) site is landscaping and water. Each pillar is inscribed with the name of one of the 48U.S. states of 1945, as well as theDistrict of Columbia, theAlaska Territory andTerritory of Hawaii, theCommonwealth of the Philippines,Puerto Rico,Guam,American Samoa, and theU.S. Virgin Islands. The northern arch is inscribed with "Atlantic"; the southern one, "Pacific." The plaza is 337 ft 10 in (102.97 m) long and 240 ft 2 in (73.20 m) wide, is sunk 6 feet (1.8 m) belowgrade, and contains a pool that is 246 feet 9 inches by 147 feet 8 inches (75.2 m × 45.0 m).[7]
The memorial includes two[8] inconspicuously located "Kilroy was here" engravings. Their inclusion in the memorial acknowledges the significance of the symbol to American soldiers during World War II and how it represented their presence and protection wherever it was inscribed.[9]
On approaching the semicircle from the east, a visitor walks along one of two walls (right side wall and left side wall) picturing scenes of the war experience in bas relief. As one approaches on the left (toward the Pacific arch), the scenes begin with soon-to-be servicemen getting physical exams, taking the oath, and being issued military gear. The reliefs progress through several iconic scenes, including combat and burying the dead, ending in a homecoming scene. On the right-side wall (toward the Atlantic arch) there is a similar progression, but with scenes generally more typical of the European theatre. Some scenes take place in England, depicting the preparations for air and sea assaults. The last scene is ofa handshake between the American and Russian armies when the western and eastern fronts met in Germany.
The Freedom Wall is on the west side of the plaza, with a view of theReflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial behind it. The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war. In front of the wall lies the message "Here we mark the price of freedom".[10][a]
In 1987, World War II veteran Roger Durbin approached RepresentativeMarcy Kaptur, aDemocrat fromOhio, to ask if a World War II memorial could be constructed. Kaptur introduced the World War II Memorial Act to theHouse of Representatives as HR 3742 on December 10. The resolution authorized theAmerican Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) to establish a World War II memorial in "Washington, D.C., or its environs", but the bill was not voted on before the end of the session. In 1989 and 1991, Rep. Kaptur introduced similar legislation, but these bills suffered the same fate as the first and did not become law.
Kaptur reintroduced legislation in the House a fourth time as HR 682 on January 27, 1993, one day after SenatorStrom Thurmond (aRepublican fromSouth Carolina) introduced companion Senate legislation. On March 17, 1993, the Senate approved the act, and the House approved an amended version of the bill on May 4. On May 12, the Senate also approved the amended bill, and the World War II Memorial Act was signed into law by PresidentBill Clinton on May 25 of that year, becomingPub. L. 103–32.
On September 30, 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed a 12-member Memorial Advisory Board (MAB) to advise the ABMC in picking the site, designing the memorial, and raising money to build it.[11] Adirect mail fundraising effort brought in millions of dollars from individual Americans. Additional large donations were made by veterans' groups, including theAmerican Legion, theVeterans of Foreign Wars, and Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge. The majority of the corporate fundraising effort was led by co-chairmen SenatorBob Dole, a decorated World War II veteran and 1996 Republican nominee for president, andFrederick W. Smith, thepresident andchief executive officer ofFedEx Corporation and a formerU.S. Marine Corps officer. TheU.S. federal government provided about $16 million; a total of $197 million was raised. Following his death in December 2021, Dole himself would have a memorial service held at the World War II Memorial.[12][13]
On January 20, 1995, Colonel Kevin C. Kelley, project manager for the ABMC, organized the first meeting of the ABMC and the MAB, at which the project was discussed and initial plans made. The meeting was chaired by Commissioner F. Haydn Williams, chairman of ABMC's World War II Memorial Site and Design Committee, who would go on to guide the project through the site selection and approval process and the selection and approval of the Memorial's design. Representatives from theUnited States Commission of Fine Arts, theNational Capital Planning Commission, theNational Capital Memorial Commission, theU.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service attended the meeting. The selection of an appropriate site was taken on as the first action.
Over the next months, several sites were considered. Soon, 3 quickly gained favor:[14][15]
Other sites considered but quickly rejected were:
The selection of the Rainbow Pool site was announced on October 5, 1995. The design would incorporate the Rainbow Pool fountain, located across 17th Street from the Washington Monument and near the Constitution Gardens site.[16]
The location, between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, is the most prominent spot for a monument on the National Mall since the Lincoln Memorial opened in 1922. It is the first addition in more than 70 years to the grand corridor of open space that stretches from the Capitol 2.1 miles (3.4 km) west to the Potomac River.[17]
A nationwide design competition drew 400 submissions from architects from around the country.Friedrich St. Florian's initial design was selected in 1997. St. Florian's design evokes a classical monument. Under each of the two memorial arches, the Pacific and Atlantic baldachinos, four eagles carry an oak laurel wreath. Each of the 56 pillars bear wreaths of oak symbolizing military and industrial strength, and of wheat, symbolizing agricultural production.
Over the next four years, St. Florian's design was altered during the review and approval process required of proposed memorials in Washington, D.C. Ambassador Haydn Williams guided the design development for ABMC.
Ground was broken in November 2000. The construction was managed byGeneral Services Administration.
New England Stone Industries of Rhode Island was hired by the general contractor to fabricate the stone; it worked closely with St. Florian and the ABMC throughout the process.[citation needed] The triumphal arches were sub-contracted to and crafted byRock of Ages Corporation. SculptorRaymond Kaskey created the bronze eagles and two wreaths that were installed under the arches, as well as 24 bronzebas-relief panels that depict wartime scenes of combat and the home front.[18] The bronzes were cast over the course of two and a half years atLaran Bronze inChester, Pennsylvania.[19] The stainless-steel armature that holds up the eagles and wreaths was designed at Laran, in part by sculptorJames Peniston,[20] and fabricated by Apex Piping ofNewport, Delaware.[21] The twin bronze wreaths decorating the 56 granite pillars around the perimeter of the memorial – as well as the 4,048 gold-plated silver stars representing American military deaths in the war – were cast at Valley Bronze inJoseph, Oregon.[22][23] "I'd see buckets full of the stars going through the foundry, and think that each stood for 100 men. The magnitude was overwhelming," Dave Jackman, former president of Valley Bronze, recalled in 2004.[24]
The John Stevens Shop designed the lettering for the memorial and most of the inscriptions were hand-carvedin situ.
The memorial opened to the public on April 29, 2004, and was dedicated in a May 29 ceremony attended by thousands of people. The memorial became a unit of the national park system on November 1, when authority over it was transferred to the National Park Service.
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Critics such as the National Coalition to Save Our Mall opposed the location of the memorial. A major criticism of the location was that it would interrupt what had been an unbroken view between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial was also criticized for taking up open space that had been historically used for majordemonstrations andprotests.[25][26][27]
Critics were particularly bothered by the expedited approval process, which is considerably lengthy most of the time.[28] The United States Congress, worried that World War II veterans were dying before an appropriate memorial could be built, passed legislation exempting the World War II Memorial from further site and design review. Congress also dismissed pending legal challenges to the memorial.[29]
There were also aesthetic objections to the design. A critic from theBoston Herald described the monument as "vainglorious, demanding of attention and full of trite imagery."[30]The Philadelphia Inquirer argued that "this pompous style was also favored byHitler andMussolini"[31]The Washington Post described it as "overbearing", "bombastic", and a "hodgepodge of cliche and Soviet-style pomposity" with "the emotional impact of a slab of granite".[32]
The monument was dismissed by one prominent architecture critic as "knee-jerkhistoricism".[33]
The design unveiled by President Bill Clinton included 50 columns honoring the 48 states of the Union during World War II and two of the eight non-state jurisdictions at the time of the war: the territories of Alaska and Hawaii that subsequently were admitted into the Union. On June 2, 1997, thePuerto Rico Legislative Assembly approved aConcurrent Resolution[34] requesting the addition of a column honoring the territory of Puerto Rico's participation in the war effort. Its author, Sen.Kenneth McClintock, began a lobbying campaign. Eventually, the number of columns was raised to 56, honoring the 48 states, the District of Columbia, and the seven U.S. territories at the time: Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Philippines,[35] and the United States Virgin Islands.[36]
On May 23, 2013, SenatorRob Portman introduced the World War II Memorial Prayer Act of 2013 (Pub. L. 113–123 (text)(PDF)), which would direct theSecretary of the Interior to install at the World War II memorial a suitable plaque or an inscription with the words that PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt prayed with the United States on June 6, 1944, the morning ofD-Day.[37] The bill was opposed by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union, theAmerican Jewish Committee,Americans United for Separation of Church and State, theHindu American Foundation, and theInterfaith Alliance.[38] Together the organizations argued that the bill "endorses the false notion that all veterans will be honored by a war memorial that includes a prayer proponents characterize as reflecting our country's 'Christian heritage and values.'"[38] The organizations argued that "the memorial, as it currently stands, appropriately honors those who served and encompasses the entirety of the war" and was carefully created, so no additional elements, such as FDR's prayer, need to be added.[38] But, they said, "the effect of this bill, however, is to co-opt religion for political purposes, which harms the beliefs of everyone."[38] The bill was signed into law on June 30, 2014,[39] and the Commission of Fine Arts preferred a design at the Circle of Remembrance to the northwest of the memorial.[40] With funding secured, it was initially intended to be dedicated on June 6, 2022,[41] but was instead opened a year later on June 6, 2023 on the 79th anniversary of the Normandy landings.[42]
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| National | |
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